Evaluation Of Foliar Application Of Silver Nitrate And Its Nanoparticles For Suppressing Fusarium Wilt Severity And Enhancing Tomato Fruit Yield

Fusarium oxysporum f.sp lycopersici, a phytopathogenic microorganism, reduces the fruit yield of tomatoes globally. Hence, the influence of silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) and silver nitrate (AgNO3) in managing Fusarium wilt on wilt-endemic site was evaluated. The layout of the experiment was a Randomized Complete Block Design and replicated thrice. Results indicated that, at the 8th week after transplanting, the highest plant height of 206.67 cm in AgNPs-treated UC82-B was significantly different from plant height of 54.43 and 71.17 cm, recorded for Roma VF and UC82-B in untreated control plots respectively. Also, the highest number of leaves (65.33) documented in UC82-B tomato plots treated with AgNPs, was significantly different from the number of leaves (31.00) observed in the UC82-B untreated control tomato plot. The lowest disease severity (2.00) recorded for AgNPs-treated UC82-B tomato was significantly lower than the highest disease severity of 6.00 recorded in untreated control plots for both Roma VF and UC82-B respectively. The highest tomato fruit yield (3.25 t/ha) observed when UC82- B was treated with Carbendazim, followed by 3.21 t/ha with Carbendazim-treated Roma VF, were not significantly different from 1.92, 2.85, 1.99 and 2.90 t/ha fruit yield for AgNO3-treated Roma VF, AgNPs treated Roma VF, AgNO3 treated UC82-B and AgNPs treated UC82-B, respectively. Though both AgNO3 and AgNPs were able to reduce Fusarium wilt infection and increase fruit yield compared with untreated control plots, AgNPs were more effective and comparable to the standard fungicide.