Antibacterial activity of electrolyzed water on Pseudomonas syringae and Clavibacter michiganensis and its effect on seed germination

Tomato plants are a crop of great economic importance worldwide. Mexico is considered the world's leading exporter of this vegetable, with a 24% market share. However, this crop can be affected by diseases such as bacterial freckle and bacterial cancer that can be introduced to plantations through infected seeds. Pesticides are used in agriculture for disease control and are considered a source of environmental pollution. Alternatives to the use of pesticides must therefore be sought. To this effect, electrolyzed water is a technology that has been shown to have antimicrobial activity. In this study, the antimicrobial activity of electrolyzed water on Pseudomonas syringae pv. tomato and Clavibacter michiganensis subsp. michiganensis was evaluated on cells suspension and tomato seed germination. Electrolyzed oxidizing water (EOW) and electrolyzed reduced water (ERW) treatments were applied for 1, 3 and 6 minutes. In addition, seeds were infected with each of the bacterial strains separately and electrolyzed water treatments were applied. Results show that oxidizing water is more efficient as an antimicrobial agent, as it achieved 100% growth reduction of the two bacterial strains after one minute of treatment. These treatments did not affect germination percentage, since germination percentages above 90% were obtained in all treatments and the seedlings were not affected in any of the evaluated variables.