Through a variety of techniques that improve the plant’s natural defense systems and support a better rhizosphere environment, biofertilizers can influence plant disease resistance. The interactions between the beneficial bacteria in biofertilizers and plants help plants resist disease and have better immunity. Here are a few ways that biofertilizers affect a plant’s ability to withstand disease:
Some biofertilizers have the ability to make plants develop systemic resistance. A plant’s capacity to protect itself against a variety of pathogens after being exposed to a particular beneficial microbe or one of its byproducts is known as systemic resistance. When helpful bacteria are present in biofertilizers, the plant’s influence system is triggered, which results in the synthesis of defensive substances and proteins that guard against numerous infections.
Competition with Pathogens: Pathogenic bacteria compete with biofertilizers for resources and space by colonizing the roots of plants and the rhizosphere around them. The risk of disease development can be decreased by this competitive exclusion, which can restrict the proliferation and establishment of pathogens in the rhizosphere.
Antagonism: A number of helpful microorganisms included in biofertilizers have an adverse effect on plant diseases. Through the synthesis of antimicrobial compounds or by competing with diseases for nutrients and space, they may directly restrict the growth of pathogens.
The generation of antifungal chemicals in plants is induced by several biofertilizers, notably those that contain mycorrhizal fungi. These substances can offer defense against infections that are carried by the soil.
