Chlorophyll fluorescence measurements as indicators of fusariosis severity in tomato plants

Abstract

In these experiments the pathogenicity of Fusarium oxysporum populations was investigated. Disease index for inoculated plants was compared to chlorophyll fluorescence parameters measured with the fluorometer PAM. For most of the isolates of higher pathogenicity, the disease index was correlated with the decrease of photosynthetic activity of plants. However, in some cases the damage to the photosystem was more severe than external disease symptoms indicated, suggesting that chlorophyll fluorescence measurements might be helpful in early evaluation of the severity of F. oxysporum.