Induced resistance in citrus by hexanoic acid

  1. Llorens Vilarrocha, Eugenio
Supervised by:
  1. Pilar García Agustín Director
  2. Leonor Lapeña Barrachina Co-director

Defence university: Universitat Jaume I

Fecha de defensa: 09 December 2014

Committee:
  1. Carmen González Bosch Chair
  2. Begonya Vicedo Jover Secretary
  3. Franciso de Assis Alves Mourao Committee member

Type: Thesis

Teseo: 374072 DIALNET lock_openTDX editor

Abstract

The hexanoic acid is a short chain carboxylic acid that have demonstrated to be effective as Resistance inducer in plants against several pathogens. In this work we showed that this compound is effective in citrus in against the fungus Alternaria alternata and the bacteria Xanthomonas citri, displaying both short term and long lasting protective effect. Our results have demonstrated that the application of hexanoic acid is able to induce defensive responses such as activation of the hormonal pathways, callose deposition or the scavenging of reactive oxygen species. In addition, we also demonstrated that this compound is totally innocuous since after its application it is accumulated in the root, and it is not transported to the leaves. Finally, our results showed that the application of this compound induce the emission volatile compounds involved in resistance derived from the mevalonic pathway.