Antifungal Activity of Chitosan on Fusarium sulphureum in Relation to Dry Rot of Potato Tuber

The antifungal activity of chitosan on Fusarium sulphureum in relation to the inhibitory effect on dry rot of potato tuber was investigated. The results showed spore germination and mycelial growth of F. sulphureum were inhibited by chitosan treatment and the inhibitory effect was highly correlated with chitosan concentration used in this study. Morphological changes such as intertwisting hyphal, distortion, and swelling with excessive branching were observed by scanning electron microscopy (SEM) observation. Transmission electron microscopy (TEM) observation further indicated the ultrastructural alterations of hyphae. These changes included abnormal distribution of cytoplasma, non-membraneous inclusion bodies assembling in cytoplasm, considerable thickening of the hyphal cellular walls, and very frequent septation with malformed septa. Application of chitosan at higher concentration caused serious damage to fungal hyphae, including cellular membrane disorganisation, cell wall disruption, and breaking of inner cytoplast. New hyphae (daughter hyphae) inside the collapsed hyphal cells was often detected in the cytoplasm of chitosan-treated hyphae. In vivo tests showed that chitosan treatment at 0.5 or 1% effectively controlled the dry rot of potato tuber inoculated with a spore suspension of F. sulphureum. However, the chitosan treatment at 1% caused phytotoxicity to potato tuber. This study suggests that the use of chitosan could be a promising handling as a natural fungicide to partially substitute for the synthetic fungicides in potato tuber.