Table 1.
Treatments composition in pot experiment.
Table 2.
Effect of different treatments on disease incidence (DI), disease severity index (DSI), area under disease incidence progress curve (AUDIPC), and area under disease severity progress curve (AUDSPC) on maize plants, grown in pots.
Fig 1.
Effect of treatments on (A) shoot length, (B) shoot dry mass, and (C) root dry mass of maize in pot trials. Data represent means ± standard error of 5 replicates. Error bars with a common alphabet do not differ significantly at P = 5% as computed by Fisher’s LSD test, using Minitab 20.2. Abbreviations: C: control (Without pathogen and soil amendment), Mp: Macrophomina phaseolina, AMp: Autoclaved M. phaseolina, Co: Carthamus oxyacantha, Mp1: Mp (1.2×105), Mp2: Mp (2.4×105), Mp3: Mp (3.6×105), AMp1: AMp (1.2×105), AMp2: AMp (2.4×105), AMp3: AMp (3.6×105), Co1: Co0.5%, Co2: Co1%, Co3: Co1.5%, Mp1+Co1: Mp (1.2×105)+Co0.5%, Mp1+Co2: Mp (1.2×105)+Co1%, Mp1+Co3: Mp (1.2×105)+Co1.5%, Mp2+Co1: Mp (2.4×105)+Co0.5%, Mp2+Co2: Mp (2.4×105)+Co1%, Mp2+Co3: Mp (2.4×105)+Co1.5%, Mp3+Co1: Mp (3.6×105)+Co0.5%, Mp3+Co2: Mp (3.6×105)+Co1%, Mp3+Co3: Mp (3.6×105)+ Co1.5%. Note: Mp concentrations are given in colony forming units (CFU mL-1).
Fig 2.
Effect of treatments on (A) chlorophyll a, (B) chlorophyll b, and (C) carotenoids of maize in pot trials. Data represent means ± standard error of 5 replicates. Error bars with a common alphabet do not differ significantly at P = 5% as computed by Fisher’s LSD test, using Minitab 20.2. Abbreviations: C: control (Without pathogen and soil amendment), Mp: Macrophomina phaseolina, AMp: Autoclaved M. phaseolina, Co: Carthamus oxyacantha, Mp1: Mp (1.2×105), Mp2: Mp (2.4×105), Mp3: Mp (3.6×105), AMp1: AMp (1.2×105), AMp2: AMp (2.4×105), AMp3: AMp (3.6×105), Co1: Co0.5%, Co2: Co1%, Co3: Co1.5%, Mp1+Co1: Mp (1.2×105)+Co0.5%, Mp1+Co2: Mp (1.2×105)+Co1%, Mp1+Co3: Mp (1.2×105)+Co1.5%, Mp2+Co1: Mp (2.4×105)+Co0.5%, Mp2+Co2: Mp (2.4×105)+Co1%, Mp2+Co3: Mp (2.4×105)+Co1.5%, Mp3+Co1: Mp (3.6×105)+Co0.5%, Mp3+Co2: Mp (3.6×105)+Co1%, Mp3+Co3: Mp (3.6×105)+ Co1.5%. Note: Mp concentrations are given in colony forming units (CFU mL-1).
Fig 3.
Effect of treatments on (A) rate of carbon assimilation, and (B) stomatal conductance of maize in pot trials. Data represent means ± standard error of 5 replicates. Error bars with a common alphabet do not differ significantly at P = 5% as computed by Fisher’s LSD test, using Minitab 20.2. Abbreviations: C: control (Without pathogen and soil amendment), Mp: Macrophomina phaseolina, AMp: Autoclaved M. phaseolina, Co: Carthamus oxyacantha, Mp1: Mp (1.2×105), Mp2: Mp (2.4×105), Mp3: Mp (3.6×105), AMp1: AMp (1.2×105), AMp2: AMp (2.4×105), AMp3: AMp (3.6×105), Co1: Co0.5%, Co2: Co1%, Co3: Co1.5%, Mp1+Co1: Mp (1.2×105)+Co0.5%, Mp1+Co2: Mp (1.2×105)+Co1%, Mp1+Co3: Mp (1.2×105)+Co1.5%, Mp2+Co1: Mp (2.4×105)+Co0.5%, Mp2+Co2: Mp (2.4×105)+Co1%, Mp2+Co3: Mp (2.4×105)+Co1.5%, Mp3+Co1: Mp (3.6×105)+Co0.5%, Mp3+Co2: Mp (3.6×105)+Co1%, Mp3+Co3: Mp (3.6×105)+ Co1.5%. Note: Mp concentrations are given in colony forming units (CFU mL-1).
Fig 4.
Effect of treatments on (A) transpiration rate, and (B) internal carbon dioxide conc. of maize in pot trials. Data represent means ± standard error of 5 replicates. Error bars with a common alphabet do not differ significantly at P = 5% as computed by Fisher’s LSD test, using Minitab 20.2. Abbreviations: C: control (Without pathogen and soil amendment), Mp: Macrophomina phaseolina, AMp: Autoclaved M. phaseolina, Co: Carthamus oxyacantha, Mp1: Mp (1.2×105), Mp2: Mp (2.4×105), Mp3: Mp (3.6×105), AMp1: AMp (1.2×105), AMp2: AMp (2.4×105), AMp3: AMp (3.6×105), Co1: Co0.5%, Co2: Co1%, Co3: Co1.5%, Mp1+Co1: Mp (1.2×105)+Co0.5%, Mp1+Co2: Mp (1.2×105)+Co1%, Mp1+Co3: Mp (1.2×105)+Co1.5%, Mp2+Co1: Mp (2.4×105)+Co0.5%, Mp2+Co2: Mp (2.4×105)+Co1%, Mp2+Co3: Mp (2.4×105)+Co1.5%, Mp3+Co1: Mp (3.6×105)+Co0.5%, Mp3+Co2: Mp (3.6×105)+Co1%, Mp3+Co3: Mp (3.6×105)+ Co1.5%. Note: Mp concentrations are given in colony forming units (CFU mL-1).
Fig 5.
Effect of treatments on (A) superoxide dismutase, (B) peroxidase, and (C) catalase activities of maize in pot trials. Data represent means ± standard error of 5 replicates. Error bars with a common alphabet do not differ significantly at P = 5% as computed by Fisher’s LSD test, using Minitab 20.2. Abbreviations: C: control (Without pathogen and soil amendment), Mp: Macrophomina phaseolina, AMp: Autoclaved M. phaseolina, Co: Carthamus oxyacantha, Mp1: Mp (1.2×105), Mp2: Mp (2.4×105), Mp3: Mp (3.6×105), AMp1: AMp (1.2×105), AMp2: AMp (2.4×105), AMp3: AMp (3.6×105), Co1: Co0.5%, Co2: Co1%, Co3: Co1.5%, Mp1+Co1: Mp (1.2×105)+Co0.5%, Mp1+Co2: Mp (1.2×105)+Co1%, Mp1+Co3: Mp (1.2×105)+Co1.5%, Mp2+Co1: Mp (2.4×105)+Co0.5%, Mp2+Co2: Mp (2.4×105)+Co1%, Mp2+Co3: Mp (2.4×105)+Co1.5%, Mp3+Co1: Mp (3.6×105)+Co0.5%, Mp3+Co2: Mp (3.6×105)+Co1%, Mp3+Co3: Mp (3.6×105)+ Co1.5%. Note: Mp concentrations are given in colony forming units (CFU mL-1).
Fig 6.
Principal component analysis (PCA) biplot performed by using OriginPro 2024.
Abbreviations of treatments: C: control (Without pathogen and soil amendment), Mp: Macrophomina phaseolina, AMp: Autoclaved M. phaseolina, Co: Carthamus oxyacantha, Mp1: Mp (1.2×105), Mp2: Mp (2.4×105), Mp3: Mp (3.6×105), AMp1: AMp (1.2×105), AMp2: AMp (2.4×105), AMp3: AMp (3.6×105), Co1: Co0.5%, Co2: Co1%, Co3: Co1.5%, Mp1+Co1: Mp (1.2×105)+Co0.5%, Mp1+Co2: Mp (1.2×105)+Co1%, Mp1+Co3: Mp (1.2×105)+Co1.5%, Mp2+Co1: Mp (2.4×105)+Co0.5%, Mp2+Co2: Mp (2.4×105)+Co1%, Mp2+Co3: Mp (2.4×105)+Co1.5%, Mp3+Co1: Mp (3.6×105)+Co0.5%, Mp3+Co2: Mp (3.6×105)+Co1%, Mp3+Co3: Mp (3.6×105)+ Co1.5%. Note: Mp concentrations are given in colony forming units (CFU mL-1). Abbreviations of parameters: SL: Shoot length, SDM: Shoot dry mass, RDM: Root dry mass, Chl a: Chlorophyll a, Chl b: Chlorophyll b, A: rate of carbon assimilation, gs: stomatal conductance, E: transpiration rate, Ci: Internal carbon dioxide concentration, SOD: superoxide dismutase, POD: peroxidase, CAT: catalase, AUDIPC: Area under disease incidence progress curve, AUDSPC: Area under disease severity progress curve.