Improvement of Resistance of Forage Beans to Pathogens by Compositing Them with SiO2 and Chitosan Nanoparticles

Nanotechnology can offer advantages to pesticides, like reducing toxicity, improving the shelf-life, and increasing the solubility of poorly water-soluble pesticides, all of which could have positive environmental impacts. Vicia faba L. is a high-protein forage and vegetable crop with a high productivity potential limited by pathogenic mycoflora. Fusariomycoses are dominant in the bean mycoses complex. Fusariosis are widely known phytomycoses globally with a wide range of mycotoxins, and beans are used for food, including in dietetics, and livestock feed, all over the world. This work aimed to select vegetable and forage beans with different degrees of resistance to Fusarium seedlings. For several years (1999-2020) in the soil and climatic conditions of the city of Belgorod (south of the central black earth region of Russia) on the territory of the National Research University “BelGU”, a collection of beans for fodder and vegetable use was studied against a natural infectious background. Fusariosis appeared annually at all stages of the growing season of broad beans. Severe damage to the seeds led to the death of seedlings. In some years, the prevalence of fusarium disease reached 72%, and the loss of grain yield - 68%. Fusarium sporotrichioides and Fusarium oxysporum were isolated and identified from the affected seedlings. Moreover, the former predominated on seedlings, the latter - on adult plants. Most of the tested varieties of beans (69%) were characterized by low resistance. No immune and fusarium-resistant bean varieties have been identified.