Homeopathic Management of Tomato Leaf Curl Virus Using Psorinum

Background: Tomato leaf curl virus (ToLCV) disease vectored by whitefly Bemisia tabaci, is the most devastating disease of cultivated tomato (Lycopersicon esculentum), causing 38-100% yield loss, depending on the stage of the crop at the time of infection. This has stimulated research to find a suitable remedy. Use of the homeopathic nosode Psorinum in agriculture was to validate the potential of agro-homeopathy in viral infection. According to Dr. Samuel Hahnemann, ‘Psorinum is not a simple biotherapy, rather it is a homoeopathic remedy having been the object of experiment, according to the methodology of proving’.

Methods: The study was conducted in Sarada Krishna Homoeopathic Medical College, Kulasekharam, Kanyakumari district, Tamil Nadu, India during the years 2017-18. The study aims at observing variation in Psorinum treated and untreated groups of tomato plants susceptible to ToLCV infection. The observations identified for study were growth parameters and yield attributes such as duration of flowering and fruiting events. Fruit weight, yield/plant etc. were also calculated. Biochemical characters, such as lycopene and ascorbic acid, were inferred by suitable laboratory protocol. All parameters were expressed as mean ± SE. Disease incidence by ToLCV was observed at regular intervals by the appearance of key symptoms. Real-time PCR methods were used for the quantification of viral load in Psorinum 30 treated sets of tomato plants along with the control.

Results: Significant variation was observed in growth parameters, especially in height of the plant and fruit weight; yield showed 42.6% greater increase than the control group. Biochemical parameters, especially ascorbic acid showed 12.4% greater increase when compared with the control group. Analysis of virus DNA by RT-PCR showed 31.6% greater reduction of viral load when compared to control group. Statistical analysis of treatments revealed significance at p < 0.001.

Keywords: Agro-homeopathy, tomato leaf curl virus disease, real-time PCR