Garlic can prevent crown gall disease in tomato plants

Rashmi, Vinay Kumar

Dr. Ambedkar Institute of Technology for Handicapped Kanpur Crown gall disease is found in most dicots plants like cherry, orange, apple and tomato. Crown gall is caused by the bacteria Agrobacterium tumefaciens. This bacterium is capable of causing tumor like projections, which in turn is called Galls. Plants have trouble with their nutrients and water flow due to the fact that the tumors or galls affect or interfere with these systems. All these changes make the crown gall bacterium happy, because it can feed easily in developing galls. The expanding gall squeezes finally crushes the water conducting tissues, constricting the flow of water to the upper parts of the plant by as much as 80%. Galled plants become stunted and leaves may become undersized. The bacterium enters plants through wound. After infection, the bacteria cause the plant cell to grow quickly and to produce chemical (opines) that the bacteria use as an energy source. The galls ability to obtain nutrients decreases as they grow larger, eventually causing the growth to stop. It will start to diminish and release the bacteria into the soil. Allicin is a garlics (Allium sativum) main biologically active component. Garlic is a natural antimicrobial drug that cans unusually wide variety of infectious organism. When garlic is crushed allicin blocks enzymes, cysteine proteinases and alcohol dehydrogenases. These enzymes are found in many infectious organisms, such as bacteria, fungi and viruses. Allicin is able to ward off different types of infections, such as crown galls. Garlic has some antibacterial properties that could prevent the infections. When crushed, Allium sativum yields allicin, a powerful antibiotic and antifungal compound (phytoncide). This means that when we crush garlic with the stab inoculation technique this antibiotic could probably prevent the growth of crown gall.Thus, allicin from garlic solution can prevent the Agrobacterium tumefaciens affected tomato plants.