Browsing by Author "Badiwe, Mihlali"

Now showing 1 - 3 of 3
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    Effect of Fusarium oxysporum on the physiological and molecular responses of cowpea plants
    (The University of the Western Cape, 2017) Badiwe, Mihlali; Klein, Ashwil; Rafudeen,Suhail
    Cowpea is a tropical, drought-tolerant legume crop that is indigenous to Africa. The crop is of nutritional importance to both animals and humans as part of their diet. Stress to crop plants is defined as any factor that negatively influences the growth and reproduction of a plant below the capabilities of the genotype.
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    The interactive effects of salt stress and Fusarium proliferatum infection on maize seedlings
    (University of the Western Cape, 2022) Badiwe, Mihlali; Klein, Ashwil
    Field crops are often subjected to multiple co-occurring stress factors, and they evolved specific mechanisms to counteract the effects of these stress factors. Most studies explore the fundamental molecular mechanisms involved in plant abiotic and biotic stress interactions. These look at plant responses to individual stressors and not combinations. Studying the effects of individual stress responses is not an adequate approach as plants in nature are challenged by both abiotic and biotic stress factors occurring simultaneously. Modern studies have shown that plants possess the ability to tolerate co-occurring abiotic and biotic stresses through the utilization of tailored responses, which are impossible to understand by direct extrapolation from results of studies examining individual stress factors.
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    p-Coumaric acid differential alters the ion-omics profile of chia shoots under salt stress
    (MDPI, 2024) Badiwe, Mihlali; Nkomo, Mbukeni; Niekerk, Lee-Ann
    p-Coumaric acid (p-CA) is a phenolic compound that plays a crucial role in mediating multiple signaling pathways. It serves as a defense strategy against plant wounding and is also presumed to play a role in plant development and lignin biosynthesis. This study aimed to investigate the physiological and ionomic effect of p-CA on chia seedlings under salt stress. To this end, chia seedlings were supplemented with Nitrosol® containing 100 μM of p-CA, 100 of mM NaCI, and their combined (100 mM NaCI + 100 μM p-CA) solutions in 2-day intervals for a period of 14 days along with a control containing Nitrosol® only. The treatment of chia seedlings with 100 mM of NaCI decreased their growth parameters and the content of the majority of the essential macro-elements (K, P, Ca, and Mg), except for that of sodium (Na). The simultaneous application of p-CA and a salt stress treatment (p-CA + NaCI) alleviated the effect of salt stress on chia seedlings’ shoots, and this was indicated by the increase in chia biomass. Furthermore, this combined treatment significantly enhanced the levels of the essential microelements Mg and Ca. In summary, this brief report is built on the foundational work of our previous study, which demonstrated that p-CA promotes growth in chia seedlings via activation of O2 −. In this brief report, we further show that p-CA not only promotes growth but also mitigates the effects of salt stress on chia seedlings. This mitigation effect may result from the presence of Mg and Ca, which are vital nutrients involved in regulating metabolic pathways, enzyme activity, and amino acid synthesis.