گوجه فرنگی

Tomato is attacked by root-knot nematodes (Meloidogyne spp.), reducing crop yield. The negative consequences on the environment and the high cost of producing chemical nematicides limit their application. The use of chemical fertilizers with a direct and indirect effect on the population of nematodes is considered as an environmentally friendly alternative solution. In this research, the effect of recommended minimum and maximum concentrations of Zima (soil conditioner), Nemo (growth enhancer) and Bonza (root growth stimulant) fertilizers was investigated in reducing the damage caused by M. javanica in tomato plants under greenhouse conditions. For this purpose, four-leaf stage tomato seedlings were treated with the concentrations 0.5% and 1% of Zima fertilizer, 0.1% and 0.3% of Nemo fertilizer, and 0.1% and 0.3% of Bonza fertilizer and simultaneously inoculated with 6000 nematode eggs and kept in greenhouse conditions. Sixty days after nematode inoculation, the results showed that nemo at the rate of 0.3% significantly increased the vegetative indices of healthy and infected plants. Also, the concentration of 0.5% Zima fertilizer decreased the number of eggs, galls and eggmasses in the root system, and the reproduction factor of nematode by 57.4, 34.6, 43.7, and 56.9%, respectively, compared to the control. The results of the research showed the importance of modifying the soil structure and compensating essential nutrients to reduce the damage of root-knot nematodes in tomato plants.

Tomato yellow leaf curl virus (TYLCV) is one of the most important tomato infecting viruses worldwide. In this study, symptomatic plant samples of Moldavian dragonhead (Dracocephalum moldavica L.), broad bean, soybean, basil and euphorbia (Euphorbia sp. L.) were collected from Jiroft farms (Kerman province) in 2018-2019 and TYLCV infection as well as association of Tomato leaf curl betasatellite (ToLCB) and/or Gossypium darwinii symptomless alphasatellite (GDarSLA) with some of the samples were identified. Complete nucleotide sequences of the genome of five selected TYLCV isolates obtained from five plant hosts shared identities of 90-99% with each other and 88-97 with the selected GenBank isolates of TYLCV. Furthermore, the genome of ToLCB isolates from Moldavian dragonhead, broad bean, soybean and basil shared identities of 96-99% with each other and 94-95% with the counterpart betasatellite molecules from the GenBank database. Nucleotide sequence of GDarSLA, identified in soybean shared 93-98% identities with two Iranian GenBank isolates of GDarSLA. The above five plants are reported as new natural hosts of TYLCV, ToLCB and/or GDarSLA in Iran and also Moldavian dragonhead as well as broad bean are reported as new natural hosts of the virus in the world. Results of the current study indicate that TYLCV and the associated betasatellite have a wide distribution in Jiroft farms (Kerman province).

 Root lesions and cyst nematodes can cause serious damage and loss in vegetable and squash production. This research aimed to identify these important plant parasitic nematodes in the fields of these plants in the suburbs of Rumeshkan city, Lorestan province, Iran. 

 Forty-five soil and root samples were collected from vegetable and squash fields in the region, in 2021. The nematodes were extracted using the tray method and fixed using the modified de Grisse method and transferred to glycerol. After the permanent microscopic slides were prepared, the morphological characteristics of each nematode were examined using a bright-field microscope equipped with a digital camera and then identified using valid keys. 

The lesion nematodes were identified as Pratylenchus speijeri, P. neglectus and P. thornei and the cyst nematode as Heterodera schachtii. This is the first report and description of P. speijeri from Iran and also the first report of H. schachtii from lettuce in Iran. 

 Due to the presence of these important plant parasitic nematodes on these plants in this region, appropriate management practices need to be implemented.

According to the recent advances in the application of biotechnology in various sciences, in recent years, research has been conducted in the field of preparation of liquid bioformulations and microcapsules of suspension and powder from the important fungal inhibitor Talaromyces flavus. In this study, optimization of the mentioned formulations and their use in commercial greenhouses have been done. For this purpose, based on the results of previous greenhouse research, regarding the preparation of a type of liquid bioformulation (liquid formulation containing Potato Dextrose Broth culture medium, temperature of 25 degrees Celsius and dicycloserine or sodium nitrate stabilizer), a type of microcapsule in the form of suspension. A type of microcapsule in powder form was prepared for use in tomato greenhouses. To optimize the liquid formulation, the most suitable emulsifiers and binders in terms of suspensionability were identified as Tween 20 and carboxymethyl cellulose. For the optimization of suspension and powder microcapsules, the most suitable combination of polymer + surfactant in terms of solubility was determined, respectively, the combination of alginate + myristyl alcohol and guargam + calcium lignosulfate. Investigations related to commercial greenhouses were carried out during one year in two regions of Yazd and Isfahan with a history of Fusarium wilt disease. Each study was carried out in the form of a statistical design of complete randomized blocks with eight treatments in four replications. The treatments were: 1 to 3– each of the liquid formulations, suspension microcapsules and powder microcapsules with the method of adding to the soil, 4 to 6– each of the mentioned formulations with the root immersion method, 7– Thalaromin fungicide By the method of adding to the soil, 8– control (without application of formulation and fungicide). The treatments were evaluated by determining the percentage of occurrence and the percentage of severity of fusarium wilt disease. Statistical data analysis and mean comparison was done using Duncan's multiple range test by MS TAT C software program. The results showed that the microcapsule powder with the seedling impregnation method and the liquid formulation with the soil addition method were the most effective treatments by reducing the disease severity percentage by 91.6 and 68.4%, respectively, compared to the control. According to the results Obtained, the method of producing and using each of Talaromyces flavus microcapsule and liquid formulations is considered as technical knowledge and it is possible to proceed with their commercialization steps.

Tomato leafminer is one of the most important pests of this crop in Iran. The objective of this study was to introduce and replace new insecticides and to increase the range of effective insecticides in pest control. The experiment was conducted as a randomized complete block design with five treatments in two tomato greenhouses in Ardabil and West Azarbaijan provinces. The experimental treatments included two doses of Chlorantraniliprole, (0.2 g/lit and 0.15g/lit) Flubendiamide (0.3/1000 g/lit), Indoxacarb (0.3/1000ml/lit) and Control. The live larvae were sampled before and after spraying. Ten days after the last sampling, 20 fruits were randomly selected from each replicate and the percentage of infected tomato fruit was determined. Additionally, the side effects of Chlorantraniliprole on the parasitoid wasp Trichogramma brassicae were investigated in laboratory conditions. The results showed that the treatment of Chlorantraniliprole 0.2/1000, fourteen days after spraying in West Azarbaijan province with 84.44% and in Ardabil province with 88.25% efficiency was most effective in controlling tomato leafminer. In the two provinces of West Azarbaijan and Ardabil, Chlorantraniliprole 0.2/1000 1, with 1.66 and 10.00 percent, respectively, had the lowest number of infected fruits among the treatments. Moreover, the application of Chlorantraniliprole at 0.2 /1000 and 0.15 /1000 reduced the emergence of adult Trichogramma parasitoids by 49.87 ± 4.3% and 21.27 ± 2.4%, respectively, compared with the control. According to the obtained results Chlorantraniliprole at 0.15 /1000 is recommended for use in the management programs of this pest.

The root–knot nematode (Meloidogyne incognita) on tomato (Solanum lycopersicum Linn.) is one of the most important plant pathogens, causing economic damage worldwide and in Iran. In order to biologically control this nematode, after nematode multiplication on the susceptible tomato variety (Early Orbana Y) and obtaining a pure and abundant nematode population, the plants were irrigated with a solution of 3 per thousand Probi 96 (containing Bacillus subtilis) and Chitoplus (containing chitosan). After 45 days of applying the treatments, the seedlings were transferred from the greenhouse to the laboratory, and growth indices such as fresh and dry shoot weight, shoot length, fresh and dry root weight, root length. Also, disease indices such as the average number of galls, the number of nematode egg masses in the root, the number of nematode eggs in the root, the number of second–stage juveniles in the soil, and the gall index were measured. The results showed that the use of B. subtilis and chitosan, either alone or in combination, led to an increase in plant growth indices and a reduction in nematode pathogenicity indices. Therefore, based on the results obtained in this study, it can be concluded that the use of these compounds is suggested as one of the effective strategies in an integrated management program for root–knot nematodes in tomatoes.

Emerging plant diseases accounts for serious treats to agricultural crop yields, and food security. Tomato torrado virus (ToTV) for the first time was reported in canary island (Spain) from greenhouse-grown tomato plants expressing yellowing areas at the base of the leaflets which later turn into necrotic spots or large necrotic area covering leaves, stem and fruit (Verbeek et al., 2007). During a field survey carried out during spring 2021, a total number of 14 tomato plant samples showing severe necrosis symptoms on tomato leaves and fruits, similar to those described for ToTV (Moodley et al., 2019), were collected from an open tomato field in vicinity of Shiraz. , Total RNA was extracted from leaf and fruit tissues of 14 symptomatic samples using Trizol reagent, and for the presence of ToTV was subjected to reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) using a set of specific primer pair (3Avp/35seq R and 3Avp/35seq F) targeting approximately a 275 nucleotide fragment in the coat protein gene (Wieczoreck et al. 2020). Eleven symptomatic tomato samples yielded an amplicon of the expected size ( about 275 bp) in RT-PCR assay, Multiple alignment of the obtained nucleotide sequences showed that the Iranian ToTV isolates have the highest similarity of 98.2% (IRSHZ1) and 97.3% (IRSHZ3) with ToTV strain TEN-03 and the lowest similarity of 96.8% (IRSHZ1) and 95.4% (IRSHZ3) with ToTV strain GNC-06, both of which were reported from Spain

One of the most important problems facing modern agriculture is soil born plant pathogens control, especially root-knot nematodes. Chemical control, crop rotation and using resistance cultivar are common methods in control of most plant pathogens; however, there are low efficacy in control of root-knot nematodes regarding host wide range, long-term survival ability in soil and plant residual even in absence of host. One of the new methods in the management of root-knot nematodes is resistance induction in host using chemical compounds and microorganisms.  In this method there are not any side effect. The aim of this study was to investigate the effectiveness and mechanisms involved in induced resistance by three chemical compounds (Hexanoic acid, Thiamin and Riboflavin) accompanied by Trichoderma harzianum BI in tomato plants against Meloidogyne javanica. The objectives of this study were addressed by monitoring the activity of peroxidase, polyphenol oxidase, catalase, phenylalanine ammonia lyase, accumulation of total phenolic compounds and nematode disease indexes.

This study was conducted in the Faculty of Agriculture, Ferdowsi University of Mashhad and was performed with susceptible cultivar to root knot nematode (Early Urbana). 2-4 leaf stage tomato seedlings were transferred to 3 Liter pots filled with 2 liter sterile soil and maintained under greenhouse condition to the end of experiment. 2000 Meloidogyne javanica J2 larvae (N) were added to each pot. Tomato plants were treated with Trichoderma harzianum BI (TH) with a population of 1×107 spores/mL, Hexanoic acid (HX), thiamine (TI) and riboflavin (RB) with a concentration of 20 mM. Distilled water was used as control treatment. Sampling was performed at specific time points from each pot and the samples were transferred to the laboratory. Enzyme extract was extracted from tomato roots to assay the Peroxidase (POD), Poly phenol oxidase (PPO), Catalase (PAL) and Phenylalanine ammonia lyase (PAL) enzyme activity. Also total phenol content and nematode pathogenicity indexes were measured at the end of the growing season.

 Based on the results, the highest POD and PPO enzyme activities were measured in TH + HX + N, TH + RB + N and TH + TI + N treatments, respectively, at a time point of 72 hours after treatment. The highest CAT enzyme activity was also recorded in the treatments TH + HX + N, TH + RB + N and TH + TI + N, respectively, at 96 hours after treatment application, the highest PAL enzyme activity was recorded in TH + HX + N, TH + RB + N and TH + TI + N treatments, respectively, at a time point of 120 hours after treatment. The highest total phenol content of roots  were measured, respectively,  in TH + RB + N, TH + HX + N and TH + TI + N treatments with values of 125.33, 114.67 and 109.33 mg gallic acid per gram roots. Also, nematode pathogenicity indexes including gall index, number of egg sacs and number of eggs in each egg sac were measured 45 days after the start of the experiment and a significant difference was observed in all treatments compared to the control treatment. The lowest values of pathogenicity indices were recorded in TH + HX + N, TH + RB + N and TH + TI + N treatments, respectively. Systemic resistance in plants can be induced with biotic and abiotic agents. The effects of chemical and microorganisms on plants resistance induction were investigated in many studies. However, effect of these agents on plant parasitic nematodes were considered less than other pathogens. Capability of different Trichoderma isolates on nematodes damage reduction are reported in many different studies. Several biocontrol mechanisms are reported for Trichoderma. As biocontrol ability of an isolate can be different mechanisms consequence. Effect of different chemical such as Hexanoic Acid, Thiamin and Riboflavin on plant disease have been investigated, however, there are little known about the effects of these chemicals on plant parasitic nematodes. The use of these chemicals as an enhancer of plant resistance to pathogens, due to their low risk to humans and the environment has been increasingly welcomed by researchers.

The results showed significant effect of used treatments on the reduction of root-knot nematode damage in tomato plants. These results justify further studies to investigate and identify the mechanisms of these compounds mode of action on increasing host resistance against this pathogen.

Macrolophus caliginosus (Het: Miridae) is one of the biological control factors of some plant pests in Iran. In this study, the parameters of life table and reproduction of this insect in the growth chamber under temperature conditions of 25±1 °C, relative humidity of 65±10% and light period of 14 hours of light and 10 hours of darkness by feeding from different age stages of two-part tartan mite (TU) ) was evaluated. The experiment was started by using 100 one-day-old insects and the mortality rate of different age stages was determined daily. The results showed that the age-specific (qx) mortality of Macrolophus caliginosus nymphs started at 4 days of age and gradually increased with slight fluctuations. Life expectancy increased slightly after the nymphs hatched, but then declined. Life expectancy at the time of nymph hatching was 17.75 days and at the time of emergence of adult insects was estimated to be 13.95 days. Net fertility and fertility rates, which indicate the reproductive participation of females in each generation for the next generation, were set at 32.91 t 0.17 and 26.35 t 1.02, respectively. Also, the average number of eggs produced by each female was 4.18 eggs per day.

Wilt caused by the soil-borne fungus Fusarium oxysporum f. sp. lycopersici is one of the most common and harmful diseases in most tomato growing areas. The disease damage is reported up to 27% of the yield in Iran. Biological control of the disease is an effective, environmentally friendly, and consumer health management method. The ability of arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi to reduce many soil-borne diseases has been demonstrated, so this study was conducted to investigate the effect of a commercially available arbuscular mycorrhizal fungus on disease severity in three tomato cultivars.

The commercial inoculum of arbuscular mycorrhizal fungus Glomus geosprum was obtained from the market. The experiment was performed in a completely randomized statistical design with four replicates for each treatment. Inoculum of G. geosprum was added to sterile soil in pots and then seeds of Super-Strain, Chef, and Super-Falat tomato cultivars were sown. Seedling roots were inoculated at the three to the six-leaf stage with a spore suspension of a hypervirulent isolate of F. oxysporum f. sp. lycopersici. Data on the severity of the disease, stem height, root length were collected after the appearance of wilting symptoms and analyzed with the SPSS 20 software and the means values were compared.

The severity of the disease was significantly reduced in all cultivars treated with arbuscular mycorrhizal fungus, and the stem height and root length were higher than those with no mycorrhizal fungus.

The ability of G. geosporum, to reduce the severity of Fusarium wilt disease and increase the growth of tomato plants is reported for the first time.

The tomato leafminer, Tuta absoluta (Meyrick), is a key insect pest of tomato in Iran and many other countries. The experiment initiated with 100 newly eggs and they were monitored daily in order to record the different development stages mortality. Also daily fecundity per female was recorded. This experiment that started by 20 female continued until death of all adult females. The effects of different constant temperatures, as the most important bioclimatic factor, on the life table and population growth parameters of tomato leafminer were determined under controlled laboratory conditions at 15, 20, 25, 30 and 35°C, 60 ± 5 % RH and a photoperiod of 16:8 (L:D) h. From the survival rate and fecundity schedule of T. absoluta at each constant temperature, the population growth parameters including net reproduction rate (R0), intrinsic rates of increase (r), finite rate of increase (λ), mean generation time (T) and doubling time (DT) were calculated with Jackknife method and SAS statistical software. According to the results, the highest and lowest survival rates at the beginning of adult emergence were 0.93 and 0.43 at 20°C and 35°C, respectively. Life expectancy of newly laid eggs were 46.23, 35.17, 29.53, 17.11 and 10.81 days and at the beginning of adult emergence were 27.22, 21.63, 16.33, 9.56 and 5.31 days at above temperatures, respectively. The lowest and highest values of intrinsic rate of increase were 0.07 ± 0.01 at 35°C and 0.21 ± 0.01 (d-1) at 20°C, respectively. The values of net reproductive rate were 3.31, 43.05, 37.54, 20.03 and 7.74 (females/female) at 15, 20, 25, 30 and 35 °C, respectively. The values of finite rate of increase at tested temperature were 1.01, 1.27, 1.14, 1.09 and 1.02 (d-1), respectively. Furthermore, the mean generation time decreased by increasing temperature, as its minimum value was obtained 10.24 ± 0.18 at 35°C. The values of doubling time at above mentioned temperatures were 12.06, 3.36, 3.68, 9.83 and 15.11 days, respectively. The results revealed that the population growth parameters of T. absoluta were affected by temperature as a critical abiotic factor.

Tomato bacterial speck caused by Pseudomonas syringae pv. tomato, is one of the several tomato diseases in the world. The disease can seriously affect the quantity and quality of this high-consumption crop in its cultivated areas. Disease symptoms included black spots surrounded by yellow halo on the leaves and small block spot on fruits surface. The spots on ripe fruits may surround with yellow haloes. It is difficult to diagnose the disease via symptoms, because there is high similarity among symptoms of bacterial speck and other tomato bacterial leaf spot diseases, especially bacterial spot caused by Xanthamonas spp. and Pseudomonas syringae pv. syringae. The disease is seed-borne, and application of bacterial-free seeds is the most effective strategy to reduce disease damage. Besides using healthy seed and seedling, other strategies such as applying resistant cultivars, crop rotation, drip irrigation and using pesticides are common procedures in integrated disease management
In this study, the reaction of 24 tomato cultivars including 13 non-hybrid cultivars (Early Urbana 111, Early Urbana Y, King stone, Super 22 TO, CalJ N3, 2270, Rio grenade, Early Urbana, Primo early, Falat CH, Super Chef, Primax and Red Stone, and 11 hybrid cultivars (Hyb. Superset, Hyb. Firenze, Hyb. Comodoro, Hyb. Bellariva, Hyb. 1585, Hyb. Kishmat, Hyb. Eden, Hyb. 8320, Hyb. Monty marker F1 and Hyb. Ferguson F1) was evaluated against bacterial speck disease in greenhouse. Four pathogenic P. syringae pv. tomato strains isolated from tomato fields in West Azarbaijan province, northwest of Iran, used in all experiments. For inoculation, bacterial suspension of 107 CFU ml−1 (OD600) was sprayed on the foliage of tomato seedling at four-five leaf stage. Inoculated seedlings were monitored daily for 21 days, and symptoms were recorded. The indexes of disease severity (DS), time of the first disease symptoms appearance and the area under the disease progress curve (AUDPC) were determined. To assess the disease severity, spots were counted on six leaves of each plant, and the index from zero to six was used, where 0) without symptom, 1) 1-10 spots, 2) 11-15 spots, 3) 16-20 spots, 4) 21-25 spots, 5) 26-30 spots and 6) more than 30 spots on leaves. Experiments were conducted in a completely randomized design, and four pots with four seedlings in each pot were considered for each treatment (cultivar). Statistical analysis of data was performed via Tukey’ HSD test using SAS software (version 9.4). The AUDPC index was calculated using R (version 3.5.2) and Agricolae package. Correlation among studied indexes was evaluated via Spearman’s rank correlation coefficients in SPSS (version 25).
Analysis variance of data indicated the significance at 1% level among the studied indexes. Positive correlation observed between AUDPC and the time of the first symptoms appearance (r=0.71), as well as the disease severity index (r=0.76), but there was no significant correlation between the time of the first symptoms appearance and the disease severity indexes (r=0.22). According to all three indexes cv. Hyb.1585 determined as a resistant cultivar and cv. Hyb. 8320 were identified as disease susceptible cultivar. However, some cultivars such as cv. Hyb. Firenze was susceptible based on the disease severity index but it considered as a resistant cultivar based on the time of the first disease symptoms appearance index. The results of previous research on tomato bacterial speck disease have shown different degrees of disease severity in various cultivars. So far, several resistant cultivars against this disease have been reported. The response of 93 different tomato cultivars growing in the Mediterranean region of Turkey was examined and seven cultivars showed resistance against P. syringae pv. tomato. Six of these cultivars included Atalay, Party, Petrus, Piccadilly, Prenses and they had the Pto gene, which encodes proteins related to resistance against the disease. Overall, based on the findings of this study, hybrid cultivars of Hyb. 1585, Hyb. Superset, King stone, Hyb. Bellariva and Hyb. Firenze, and non-hybrid cultivar Super Chef showed higher resistance to tomato bacterial speck disease in compare to other studied cultivars.
According to the results of this study, the resistance to this pathogen depends on various genetic and physiological factors, as well as plant-pathogen interactions. Application of different disease indexes in evaluating the cultivars reaction to diseases is recommended which can be effective in the final decisions for diseases management.

The tomato leaf miner, Tuta absoluta (Meyrick) (Lepidoptera: Gelechiidae), is an important pest of tomato in Iran. Therefore, this study was done to investigate fluctuations in adult male population of this pest using sex pheromone traps in Sirvan County (Ilam Province, western Iran) during a growing season, which lasted before transplanting to the end of growing season.

For conducting this research, 4 tomato farms in Sirvan County were selected and the pest populations were sampled using pheromone traps. The Pearson's correlation coefficient was used to assess the relationship between adult moth density and temperature. For determining optimal sample size, the Green's method was used.

According to results of the present study, there were seven population peaks at intervals of approximately one month. Flight peak of this pest occurred on May 10, June 14, July 19, August 23, October 4, November 8 ,and  December 6, respectively. The highest population density was recorded on July 19 (397.75 moths) and population density of this pest was declined since late November. Studying the relationship between average number of male moths of T. absoluta captured by pheromone traps and average monthly temperature in a growing season showed that with the increase in temperature, population density of moths was also increased. Results of regression analysis indicated that peaks about abundance of male moth coincided with the previous monthly mean temperatures. Taylor's regression model showed a significant and high correlation between mean and variance regarding density of pest population. Statistically, the aggregation index of tomato leaf miner was equal to one. In this study, Green's method was used to estimate optimal sample size. The results showed that the required number of sampling units was decreased with the increase in average population density of the pest so that, when average population density of tomato leaf miner moth in each pheromone trap was one per week, the required number of samples with an accuracy level of 25 and 10% was equal to 1.86 and 11.65, respectively, and when average population density of this pest in each pheromone trap was 10 per week, the required number of samples with an accuracy level of 25 and 10% was equal to 0.37 and 2.32, respectively.

Our results demonstrated that pheromone traps can be used as a suitable sampling method for monitoring population of the tomato leaf miner. This study provided the data about sampling, population distribution, fluctuations in population of tomato leaf miner, and the relationship between population density of the pest and temperature. Our findings can greatly contribute to rational management of this pest in the region.