Treatment/Pathogen Root fresh weight (g/plant) VD FOL FORL Salicylic acid 18.4 a 14.8 a 11.2 ab Chitosan 15.2 ab 11.2 ab 14.8 a Inoculated control 8.8 b 6.6 b 5.6 c Uninoculated control 14 ab 11.4 ab 8.8 bc * For each pathogentested, values (means) followed by the same letter are not significantly different according to Duncan's Multiple Range test at P ≤ 0.05.

Table 6: Effect of chitosan- and salicylic acid-based treatments on root fresh weight of tomato cv. Rio Grande plants inoculated with Verticillium dahliae (VD), Fusarium oxysporum f. sp. lycopersici (FOL) and F. oxysporum f. sp. radicis-lycopersici (FORL) noted 60 days post-inoculation under growth chamber conditions. Chitosan (4 mg/ml) and SA (10 mM) were applied as soil drench five days before inoculation.