• Research in Plant Disease
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• v.25 no.3
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• pp.103-107
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• 2019

Roles of nutrients in controlling plant diseases have been documented for a long time. Among the nutrients having impact on susceptibility/resistance to crop diseases, nitrogen is one of the most important nutrients for plant growth and development. In rice plants, excess nitrogen via fertilization in agricultural systems is known to increase susceptibility to the rice blast disease. Mechanisms underlying such phenomenon, despite its implication in yield and sustainable agriculture, have not been fully elucidated yet. A few research efforts attempted to link nitrogen-induced susceptibility to concomitant changes in rice plant and rice blast fungus in response to excess nitrogen. However, recent studies focusing on phytobiome are offering new insights into effects of nitrogen on interaction between plants and pathogens. In this review, I will first briefly describe importance of nitrogen as a key nutrient for plants and what changes excess nitrogen can bring about in rice and the fungal pathogen. Next, I will highlight some of the recent phytobiome studies relevant to nitrogen utilization and immunity of plants. Finally, I propose the hypothesis that changes in phytobiome upon excessive nitrogen fertilization contribute to nitrogen-induced susceptibility, and discuss empirical evidences that are needed to support the hypothesis.

• The Plant Pathology Journal
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• v.36 no.5
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• pp.398-405
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• 2020

Nutrient manipulation is a promising strategy for controlling plant diseases in sustainable agriculture. Although many studies have investigated the relationships between certain elements and plant diseases, few have comprehensively explored how differing mineral nutrition levels might affect plant-fungal pathogen interactions, namely plant susceptibility and resistance. Here, we systematically explored the effects of the seven mineral elements that plants require in the greatest amounts for normal development on the susceptibility of soybean plants (Glycine max) to Fusarium oxysporum infection in controlled greenhouse conditions. Nitrogen (N) negligibly affected plant susceptibility to infection in the range 4 to 24 mM for both tested soybean cultivars. At relatively high concentrations, phosphorus (P) increased plant susceptibility to infection, which led to severely reduced shoot and root dry weights. Potassium (K), calcium (Ca), magnesium (Mg), sulfur (S), and iron (Fe) induced plant resistance to infection as their concentrations were increased. For K and Ca, moderate concentrations had a positive effect on plant resistance to the pathogen, whereas relatively high doses of either element adversely affected plant growth and promoted disease symptoms. Further experiments were conducted, assessing disease suppression by selected combinations of macro-elements and Fe at screened concentrations, i.e., K (9 mM) plus Fe (0.2 mM), and S (4 mM) plus Fe (0.2 mM). The disease index was significantly reduced by the combination of K plus Fe. In conclusion, this systematic investigation of soybean plant responses to F. oxysporum infection provides a solid basis for future environmentally-friendly choices for application in soybean disease control programs.