Phytoalexin-producing potential

Evaluation of Phytoalexin-Producing Potential. Six g of kernels (x3) from each maturity stage were sliced 1-2 mm thick, distributed in open 60 mm tissue culture dishes, and dusted with spores of a non-aflatoxin producing strain of A. parasiticus (CP 461 SRRC 2043) to elicit phytoalexin production. The open dishes were incubated in the dark at 25 1.0°C for four days in sealed dessicators over unsaturated NaCl solutions of aw corresponding to that determined for each maturity stage. This was to maintain all peanuts at their preharvest aw during the incubation. 

A better understanding of the role of phytoalexins in plant defenses and of the mechanisms of induced resistance may potentially open a powerful new approach to the control of insect pests of cultivated plants. If indeed, in light of the hypothesis of optimal defense strategies (3), a post-attack response is a more efficient line of defense than the attack-independent accumulation of allelochemics, the exploitation of phytoalexin-producing mechanisms may represent a fertile field for future investigations. Several uses of induced resistance may be conceived. Four of these approaches are briefly discussed. 

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