Thiruvananthapuram, Mar 23 (PTI) 'Defence priming', a system of crop protection by strengthening their immune system in a natural way, has shown enormous promise for better yield of pepper crop, according to a study by the Rajiv Gandhi Centre for Biotechnology (RGCB) here.

A major pathogen which adversely affects pepper, whose largest producers in India are Kerala, Tamil Nadu and Karnataka, and causes the devastating 'foot-rot' disease in the plant is phytophthora capsici -- a form of mould.

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According to the RGCB research team, led by Dr S Manjula, there is convincing evidence to prove the potential of 'priming' or 'sensitising' to protect pepper plants from the deleterious effects of ‘foot-rot'.

"Glycol Chitosan (GC), a water soluble, non-toxic polymer known to induce plant defence, was used in the study to 'prime' the leaves of pepper plants. It was observed that GC treatment offered protection from the severity of 'foot-rot' disease and caused a significant delay in the appearance of symptoms. The priming effect was manifested through enhanced expression of critical genes of the plant immunity pathways," an RGCB release said, giving details of the process.

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A major observation of the study was the significant increase in 'piperine' -- largely responsible for the pungent taste of black pepper -- accumulation in leaves as a result of priming.

The findings of the study were recently published in the journal 'Frontiers in Plant Science', the release said.

RGCB Director Prof Chandrabhas Narayana is quoted as having said in the release that it was an important research work with implications not only for pepper plants but also for several other plantations.

"It is sustainable and inherently ecological as defence priming has huge potential to significantly reduce the use of high-risk pesticides and synthetic chemicals," he said.

Dr Manjula said, according to the release, that plants possess a highly robust and efficient immune system, and it can be primed for better defence response by specific environmental, biological and chemical conditions.

"Increasing the efficiency of the plant immune system would reduce the need to rely on unsustainable pesticides," she said.

This is the first report that provides strong molecular evidence for the advantage of defence priming in black pepper plants by improving crop protection, the RGCB said.

"This has potential implications in crop nurseries as well as in the field. More work is needed to establish the durability of priming and to optimize the method of treatment for a large-scale commercial application," Dr Manjula said.

The researchers will also address the potential of seed priming to evaluate the persistence of priming effects through successive generations through a phenomenon called 'immune memory', the release said.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)