Fig 4. Activity of defense enzymes and quantitation of total phenolics in tomato and sweet pepper plants over time treated with A. nodosum extract.

(A) Chitinase (CHI); (B) Peroxidase (POD); (C) Polyphenol oxidase (PPO); (D) Glucanase (GLU); (E) Phenylalanine ammonia lyase (PAL); (F) Total Phenolics. Leaf samples were collected at 0,12, 24, 48, 72 & 96h after seaweed extract application at 0.5% concentration. The data represents the averages ± SD of 2 independent trials with 6 replicates. The data was analysed by repeated measures ANOVA to study the effects of time and treatment. The data was also analysed by Student’s t-test to examine the significance of seaweed extract versus control at each time point independently. * represents significant differences where p-value was less than 0.05.