FIGURE 1.

AEO and Fol effects on germination rate and growth of tomato seedlings. (A) Germination rate measured in non-inoculated (–), or inoculated (+) seedlings, with Fol (10⁶ spores/ml), after seed coating with AEO at 0.5 mg/ml (light blue bars), AEO at 1 mg/ml (dark blue bars), or watered controls (white bars), according to section “Materials and Methods”. (B) Shoot length (green bars), and root length (brown bars), measured in non-inoculated (–), and inoculated (+) with Fol (10⁶ spores/ml), on 7-day-old seedlings, in absence of AEO (“0”), or presence of AEO 0.5 mg/ml (0.5). (C) Percent of growth inhibition of shoots (green bars), and roots (brown bars), 7 dpi with Fol (+), related to non-inoculated seedlings, in presence of AEO 0.5 mg/ml (0.5) or in watered controls. (D) Shoot length (green bars), and root length (brown bars), measured in non-inoculated (–), and inoculated (+) with Fol (10⁶ spores/ml), on 12-day-old seedlings, in absence of AEO (“0”), or presence of AEO 0.5 mg/ml (0.5). (E) Percent of growth inhibition of shoots (green bars), and roots (brown bars), 12 dpi with Fol (+), related to non-inoculated seedlings, in presence of AEO 0.5 mg/ml (0.5) and in watered controls. The * denotes a statistically significant difference using variance check (P-value ≤ 0.05) and Duncan test, between bracket samples at (B,C), or (P-value ≥ 0.05) and Kruskal-Wallis test at (D,E). The * on (D) denotes a statistically significant difference related to all the other treatments.