| Fusarium oxysporum f.sp. radicis-cucumerinum (FORC) causes stem and root rot in cucumber (Cucumis sativus L.). We hypothesized that monitoring changes in physiological parameters such as plant height, stem elongation rate and the leaf area in infected plant could aid in the detection of the disease at a very early stage. High-resolution Rotary Motion Sensors effectively detected a significant decrease in both plant height and stem elongation rate only six hours after inoculation with intact mycelium or with the culture filtrate after seven and eight hours, respectively. Low resolution measurements detected a significant decrease in leaf area and plant height at six and three days after inoculation, respectively. We found differences in the total protein content and protein profiles between virulent and non-virulent forms of FORC. Germplasm showing tolerance to FORC presently is not available. Lines of cucumber showing putative tolerance to FORC were selected using in-vitro screening of somatic embryos subjected to a range of culture filtrate concentrations extracted from FORC. |
