Vitti Antonella, Coviello Leonardo, Falabella Patrizia, Mang Stefania Mirela, Scieuzo Carmen, Iannielli Francesco, Ronga Domenico, Nuzzaci Maria
Department of Agricultural, Forestry, Food and Environmental Sciences, University of Basilicata, Via dell'Ateneo Lucano 10, 85100, Potenza, Italy.
Pharmacy Department, University of Salerno, Via Giovanni Paolo II, 132, 84084, Fisciano, Italy.
BMC Plant Biol. 2025 Aug 14;25(1):1075. doi: 10.1186/s12870-025-07086-5.
Wheat (Triticum spp.), the most cultivated species worldwide, is threatened by various stresses. Among these, the biotic stresses caused by phytopathogenic fungi, like Fusarium sporotrichioides, are responsible for food losses and mycotoxins poisoning. The green strategy based on recovery and use of frass deriving from Hermetia illucens reared on the standard Gainesville diet was applied, involving durum wheat (Triticum durum Desf. var Simeto) seed priming with 10% frass extract, alone or combined with T. afroharzianum T22 (T22), in pot/soil experiment. For this purpose, the agronomic traits, reduction of damping-off due to F. sporotrichioides, and activity of the pool of antioxidant enzymes involved were evaluated. In addition, the presence of microorganisms in the frass extract with possible plant growth promoting and/or protection activity, was searched.
Seed priming determined enhanced wheat growth performance and, in the meantime, a control of the development of disease symptoms, allowing a reduction of damping-off of almost 40% when frass extract and T22 were used together. This was accompanied by an increased antioxidant activity in seedlings derived from primed seeds, enabling them to face stresses in a proper way. In addition, in order to address which component of frass extract was responsible for these effects, Paenibacillus polymyxa was isolated from frass extract, and tested for its antifungal activity in vitro, resulting effective against F. sporotrichioides and also the phytopathogenic fungi Fusarium oxysporum f.sp. lycopersici and Botrytis cinerea.
This finding demonstrated that seed priming with frass extract, together with T. afroharzianum T22, could be used as an effective and environmentally friendly strategy to promote wheat growth and, at the same time, effectively control the development of F. sporotrichioides disease. The insights gathered from this research, confirmed the ability of frass to be used in priming technique, opening the door to promising solutions to harness the potential of sustainable agricultural practices and green technologies circular economy-based.
小麦（Triticum spp.）是全球种植最广泛的物种，受到各种胁迫的威胁。其中，由植物病原真菌如禾谷镰刀菌引起的生物胁迫，会导致粮食损失和霉菌毒素中毒。采用了基于回收和利用以标准盖恩斯维尔饲料饲养的黑水虻产生的虫粪的绿色策略，在盆栽/土壤实验中，用10%的虫粪提取物对硬粒小麦（Triticum durum Desf. var Simeto）种子进行引发处理，单独使用或与哈茨木霉T22（T22）联合使用。为此，评估了农艺性状、禾谷镰刀菌引起的猝倒病的减轻情况以及所涉及的抗氧化酶池的活性。此外，还在虫粪提取物中寻找具有可能促进植物生长和/或保护活性的微生物。
种子引发处理提高了小麦的生长性能，同时控制了病害症状的发展，当虫粪提取物和T22一起使用时，猝倒病的发生率降低了近40%。这伴随着引发处理种子的幼苗抗氧化活性的增加，使它们能够以适当的方式应对胁迫。此外，为了确定虫粪提取物中的哪种成分导致了这些效果，从虫粪提取物中分离出多粘芽孢杆菌，并对其体外抗真菌活性进行了测试，结果表明它对禾谷镰刀菌以及植物病原真菌尖孢镰刀菌番茄专化型和灰葡萄孢有效。
这一发现表明，用虫粪提取物与哈茨木霉T22一起对种子进行引发处理，可以作为一种有效且环保的策略来促进小麦生长，同时有效控制禾谷镰刀菌病害的发展。从这项研究中获得的见解，证实了虫粪在引发技术中的应用能力，为利用可持续农业实践和基于绿色技术循环经济的潜力开辟了有前景的解决方案。
