Abstract:
is a biopolymer acting as the fungicidal substance against several fungi. Thus, this study
concerned about the effects of chitosan on F. solani causative a soybean related-sudden death
syndrome pathogen. The study was mainly divided into 2 phases. Firstly, the effect of chitosan on
the growth of F. solani including radial growth, submerged growth, morphology and chitosanase
activity were evaluated. Secondly, the effective concentrations of chitosan on the control of
soybean sudden death syndrome including disease development, soybean growth and chitinase
activity were investigated in soybean plants. Furthermore, the effect of chitosan on the germination
of soybean seeds was also investigated.
Chitosan concentrations at 3, 5 and 10 mg/ml were found to inhibit the radial growth of
F. solani effectively with 39.09, 38.18 and 54.55 %, respectively. However, the submerged growth
was almost completely inhibited by all indicated concentrations of chitosan. Light microscope
observation showed that chitosan at concentrations ranging from 1 to 10 mg/ml induced
morphological changes to F. solani. These changes of fungal morphology were hyphal swelling,
cytoplasm aggregation and distortion. However, there was no detection of chitosanase activity of
this fungus due to the growth inhibition by chitosan. Chitosan concentration at 0.1 mg/ml was
found to stimulate the germination of soybean seeds to 98 %, but the increase in chitosan
concentration up to 10 mg/ml caused the suppression effect on seed germination. The effective
concentration of chitosan resulting in protection of soybean from F. solani was at 3 mg/ml. This
effective dose of chitosan could retard the sudden death syndrome development by 3 days on
soybean leaves when applied preventively. Furthermore, treating soybean leaves with 3 mg/ml of
chitosan significantly showed the maximum effect on dry weight of soybean plants (p<0.05).
Chitosan also stimulated the level of chitinase activity of soybean plant. In conclusion, the use of
effective dose of chitosan could partially protect soybean plants from F. solani infection due to the
induced chitinase level of soybean plants