{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,7,30]],"date-time":"2026-07-30T14:45:11Z","timestamp":1785422711130,"version":"3.56.0"},"reference-count":45,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"5","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2026,4,22]],"date-time":"2026-04-22T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1776816000000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"funder":[{"DOI":"10.13039\/501100004505","name":"University of Catania","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","id":[{"id":"10.13039\/501100004505","id-type":"DOI","asserted-by":"crossref"}]},{"id":[{"id":"https:\/\/ror.org\/03a64bh57","id-type":"ROR","asserted-by":"publisher"}]}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["JoF"],"abstract":"<jats:p>Leaf blight and fruit rot caused by Phomopsis vexans are critical issues for eggplant crops. Our study evaluated the biochar amendment, alone and in combination with a foliar spray of silicon dioxide nanoparticles (SiO2-NPs), on plant performance and disease development. Fungal infection reduced plant growth, with a 22% decline in plant height and a marked decrease in chlorophyll and carotenoid levels. Adding biochar plant height mitigated these effects: the highest dose (30 g) increased plant height in infected plants by 17.1% and increased pigment concentrations and POX and PPO activities. At the same time, the blight index declined. When biochar was combined with SiO2-NPs, the improvements were more pronounced. In infected plants, the 30 g + SiO2-NPs treatment produced substantial improvement in plant height (+31.3%) and shoot biomass and restored chlorophyll and carotenoid contents by 63% and 28.1%, respectively. This treatment also produced the lowest blight index and the strongest enzymatic responses. Principal component analyses discriminated treated plants from infected ones. These findings indicate that biochar and SiO2-NPs can jointly enhance plant resilience to P. vexans infection, reducing its negative impact.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/jof12050300","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2026,4,22]],"date-time":"2026-04-22T10:38:14Z","timestamp":1776854294000},"page":"300","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":0,"title":["Silicon Dioxide Nanoparticles and Biochar to Suppress Leaf Blight and Fruit Rot in Eggplant"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"12","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-7342-976X","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Masudulla","family":"Khan","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Botany Section, Women\u2019s College, Aligarh Muslim University, Aligarh 202002, India"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-1227-5848","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Lukman","family":"Ahamad","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"College of Agriculture, Guizhou University, Guiyang 550025, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Younes","family":"Rezaee Danesh","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Plant Protection, Faculty of Agriculture, Van Yuzuncu Yil University, Van 65090, T\u00fcrkiye"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Ivana","family":"Castello","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Agriculture, Food and Environment, University of Catania, 95123 Catania, Italy"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Gaetano","family":"Iacono","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Agriculture, Food and Environment, University of Catania, 95123 Catania, Italy"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-7339-4034","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Alessandro","family":"Vitale","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Agriculture, Food and Environment, University of Catania, 95123 Catania, Italy"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2026,4,22]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"983","DOI":"10.1007\/s10876-023-02527-3","article-title":"Stable Colloidal Iron Oxide Nanoparticles as a Green Nanofertilizer and Therapeutic Nutrient for Eggplant Immune Response against Fusarium Wilt","volume":"35","author":"Elbasuney","year":"2023","journal-title":"J. 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