Waheed Akram and Tehmina Anjum
Plants and pathogens have developed an intricate relationship based on mutual information. Pathogens develop various strategies to attack successfully plants and in return, plants develop strategies to protect themselves from pathogens. Over the last two decades, a number of approaches have been applied by pathologists to enhance disease resistance in plants. Among these, induction of systemic resistance as an integrated control strategy offers exciting opportunities. Induced resistance (IR) could be developed by two main mechanisms: Systemic acquired resistance (SAR) and induced systemic resistance (ISR). Systemic acquired resistance (SAR) is a phenomenon by which a plant activates its own defense under the influence of a bio-agent or a chemical. This resistance develops with changes in the biochemistry and physiology of the cell that is further accompanied by structural modifications in the plants that act as physical barriers to restrict pathogen penetration. It is effective under field conditions and is a natural mechanism for bio-control of plant diseases. Scientists have used several agents to induce systemic resistance in tomato including bacteria, fungi and chemicals. Major areas discussed in this paper are historical background, mechanism of IR and its induction in tomato by various bio-agents and chemicals.
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