The efficacy of fish and cow vermicompost in managing Rhizoctonia damping off on cucumber

Khafagi, Eman Y.; Ahmed, Huda Z.; Gobran, Safwat A. A. G.; Ahmed, Yosra; Abdelsattar, Mohamed; Soliman, Maali S.

doi:10.21608/ejar.2025.412460.1711

The efficacy of fish and cow vermicompost in managing Rhizoctonia damping off on cucumber

Document Type : Original Article

Authors

¹ Plant Pathology Research Institute, Agricultural Research Center, Giza, Egypt

² Central Lab. for Aquaculture Research, Agricultural Research Center, Giza, Egypt

³ Agricultural Genetic Engineering Research Institute, Agricultural Research Center, Giza, Egypt

10.21608/ejar.2025.412460.1711

Abstract

Two different vermicomposts were prepared from cow dung (CVC) and fish sludge (FVC) using a mixture of three species of earthworms i.e. Eisenia fetida, Lumbricus rubellus and Perionyx excavates. The produced vermicomposts were evaluated for their ability to control pre- and post- emergence damping-off disease on cucumber plants caused by Rhizoctonia solani. Pot experiments were conducted in two seasons (2022/2023-2023/2024). Both CVC and FVC significantly reduced pre- and post- emergence damping-off and enhanced plant growth as reflected in roots and shoots dry weights. CVC was the most potent in inducing phenolic compounds in treated plants compared to other treatments. CVC surpassed FVC in its ability to inhibit DPPH levels, but both showed a significant effect. Additionally, both CVC and FVC treatments led to a significant increase in peroxidase and catalase activities compared to the untreated control. The expression of defense-related marker genes, i.e. SA (NPR1 and PR1), JA (LOX1 and PR3), and Phenylalanine ammonia-lyase (PAL) was significantly upregulated in most treatments involving vermicomposts. NPR1 was significantly upregulated in plants treated with CVC and challenged with R. solani. PR1 was upregulated in plants treated with either CVC or FVC and challenged with R. solani. FVC was more effective at upregulating LOX1 expression, while both CVC and FVC showed significant and very similar upregulation of PR3. Interestingly, PAL expression was not significantly upregulated by FVC, and it was even downregulated by CVC alone compared to the untreated control.

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