Effect of application of titanium dioxide in the management of Fusarium wilt and fruit yield of some tomato accessions

Abstract

Tomato (Solanum lycopoersicum L.) is often threatened by wilt disease caused by Fusarium oxysporium f.sp lycopersici. Titanium dioxide  (TiO₂) has been reported to promote plant growth and reduce disease severity. This experiment was carried out to investigate the effects  of TiO₂ application on incidence and severity of Fusarium wilt as well as yield indices of three susceptible tomato accessions. The  experiment consisted of a 3 x 5 factorial experiment fitted into Completely Randomized Design and Randomized Complete Block Design  in the screenhouse and the field, respectively. All experiments were set up with three replications. The treatments consisted of three  tomato accessions (CPTTO/19/191, CPTTO/19/193 and CPTTO/19/195) and with four concentrations of TiO₂ (0.3, 0.7, 1.0 and 1.3 ml/l)  applied using soil drenching. Plots without TiO₂ application served as the control. In both screenhouse and the field, application of 1.3  ml/l TiO₂ significantly reduced the incidence and severity of Fusarium wilt with better yield of tomato fruit in the three accessions than  the control plots and pots. The study concluded that application of TiO₂ at 1.3 ml/l reduced incidence and severity of Fusaruim wilt of  tomato and increased the yield of tomato.