Date Received: 23-10-2025 / Date Accepted: 05-05-2026 / Date Published: 25-06-2026
Fusarium solani is a serious pathogen of tomato plants, causing severe reductions in yield and fruit quality. In this study, we developed and optimized an artificial inoculation method for F. solani on detached tomato leaves to establish a convenient experimental model for studying plant diseases. Spores of F. solani obtained from Potato Dextrose Agar (PDA) plates incubated at 28°C for 7 days were used in the experiments. Several factors were assessed for their impact on F. solani infection, including the medium for spore suspension, spore concentration, leaf material, and inoculum droplet volume. The inoculation procedure included trypan blue staining, which enabled early detection of infected tissues under microscopy. The optimal conditions for fungal infection were obtained using 1/2 PDB as the dilution medium with a spore concentration of 106 spores/ml, a droplet volume of 20-30l, and the fourth leaf from the top of six-week-old tomato plants. The established method was effectively applied to F. solani infection assays for evaluating the antifungal activity of bacterial culture filtrates. This protocol provides a practical tool for in vivo inoculation of F. solani on tomato plants and can be adapted for other crop species.
