Nutritional Status of Tomato (Solanum lycopersicum) Fruit Grown in Fusarium-Infested Soil: Impact of Cerium Oxide Nanoparticles

In this study, the impact of cerium oxide nanoparticles on the nutritional value of tomato (Solanum lycopersicum) fruit grown in soil infested with Fusarium oxysporum f. sp. lycopersici was investigated in a greenhouse pot study. Three-week old seedlings of Bonny Best tomato plants were exposed by foliar and soil routes to nanoparticle CeO2 (NP CeO2) and cerium acetate (CeAc) at 0, 50, and 250 mg/L and transplanted into pots containing a soil mixture infested with the Fusarium wilt pathogen. Fruit biomass, water content, diameter, and nutritional content (lycopene, reducing and total sugar) along with elemental composition, including Ce, were evaluated. Fruit Ce concentration was below the detection limit in all treatments. Foliar exposure to NP CeO2 at 250 increased the fruit dry weight (67%) and lycopene content (9%) in infested plants, compared with the infested untreated control. Foliar exposure to CeAc at 50 mg/L reduced fruit fresh weight (46%) and water content (46%) and increased the fruit lycopene content by 11% via root exposure as compared with the untreated infested control. At 250 mg/L, CeAc increased fruit dry weight (94%), compared with the infested untreated control. Total sugar content decreased in fruits of infested plants exposed via roots to NP CeO2 at 50 mg/kg (63%) and 250 mg/kg (54%), CeAc at 50 mg/kg (46%), and foliarly at 50 mg/L (50%) and 250 mg/L (50%), all compared with the infested untreated control. Plants grown in Fusarium-infested soil had decreased fruit dry weight (42%) and lycopene content (17%) and increased total sugar (60%) and Ca content (140%), when compared with the noninfested untreated control (p <= 0.05). Overall, the data suggested minimal negative effects of NP CeO2 on the nutritional value of tomato fruit while simultaneously suppressing Fusarium wilt disease.