Impact of Fusarium verticillioides on chlorophyll fluorescence parameters of two maize lines

Fusarium verticillioides is one of the most common phytopathogenic fungi affecting maize production, worldwide. The early identification of F. verticillioides infection in maize could be helpful to prevent the spreading of the fungus. Therefore, this study represents the use of chlorophyll fluorescence parameters to identify F. verticillioides infection in maize. Chlorophyll a fluorescence of control and F. verticillioides infected plants showed a typical polyphasic OJIP transient curve in both MO17 and B73 lines. Infected plants from both maize lines showed a different pattern of OJIP transient curve when compared to the control plants, respectively. This indicated that F. verticillioides had an effect on the photosynthesis of infected maize plants. This study demonstrated the importance of parameters such as: the activity of the water-splitting complex on the donor side of PSII (F-v/F-0), minimum fluorescence (F-0), maximum fluorescence (F-m), and absorption flux per one active reaction center (ABS/RC) to identify F. verticillioides infection in maize.