The effect of root exudates from two transgenic insect-resistant cotton lines on the growth of Fusarium oxysporum.

The attenuation of disease resistance in transgenic insect-resistant cotton has become one of the important factors restricting cotton production in China. Two transgenic insect-resistant cotton lines and their parental conventional cotton lines were used as the testing materials. The effects of root exudates of these cotton lines on the spore germination and mycelial growth of Fusarium oxysporum were studied and the components, contents of amino acids and sugars were determined. The results showed that the resistance of the two insect-resistant cotton lines to F. oxysporum was inferior to the parental lines, and that their root exudates promoted fungal spore germination and mycelial growth. Considerable differences in the components and contents of both, amino acids and sugars were found between the root exudates of transgenic cotton lines and their parental lines, where the disease indices were highly correlated with the total amount of sugars in the root exudates.