Most of Human beings depend on Wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) as a source of food. Therefore it considered the most vital cereal crop in many countries after rice. Phytopathogenic fungi play a critical role in destroying and reducing wheat yield as well as other plants. Several fungi colonize and invade in the root of wheat plants causing root rots(Bentley et al., 2006). Wheat plant at vegetative growth and other development of growth such as flowering process may infect by various diseases via numerous species of fungi. Therefore many studies mentioned that leaves, stems, basal stem tissues, seedlings, seed and roots of wheat were attacked by a large number of fungi (Wiese, 1987, Moya-Elizondo et al., 2011). A main problems associated with plant cultivation and crops production are fungal diseases particularly Fusarium diseases. Deterioration of significant crops was recorded as a result of Fusarium diseases such as potato dry rot, beans decline, wheat crown rot, wheat head blight, rice bakanae and wheat wilting. According to earlier literature studies, the greatest frequently identified Fusarium spp. related to crown and root rot are F. graminearum, F. culmorum and F. avenaceum (Cook 1980, Kane et al.,1987; Specht and Rush1988). Vascular wilt of cumin affected by Fusarium equiseti was reported in 2012 (Suthar and Bhatt 2012).
In numerous fields of Montana, Moya-Elizondo et al., (2011) studied the associated pathogens of wheat. Where % incidence was 15%,13% and 8% for Bipolaris sorokiniana, F. culmorum and F. pseudograminearum, respectively. Many reports suggest that the diversity of Fusarium community has dependent on plant rotation (Luque et al., 2005; Wakelin et al., 2008). According to Goswami et al. (2008), tropical and sub-tropical areas are a common habitat of F. equiseti. The pathogenicity of F. equiseti was recorded on a varied range of plants and it has recorded recently by Hami et al., (2021) as a causal fungus of wilt in chilli wilt in Kashmir valley at Northern Himalayas. Numerous attempts from agronomists to create varieties of wheat resistant to phytpathogens (Harlapur et al., 1993, Ahmed et al., 2009) but theses varieties not continue for long time and become sensitive to most diseases. Therefore the research for novel agent for controlling fungal diseases are necessary to solve these problem.
Currently, the nanoformulations attracted the scientific researchers for its applications in many fields as well as agricultural field not only for controlling the occurrence diseases but also for enhancing the physiological behavior in plants, productivity of crops and development of vegetative growth (Adamovskaya et al., 2005; Servin et al., 2015; Lopez-Lima et al., 2021). Numerous studied the lowest toxicity of metals such as silver, copper, zinc, and iron in nanoforms compared with its salts (Abdel Ghany et al., 2018), nanoparticles of copper, Zinc and iron are 7,30 and 40 times less poisonous as compared to their corresponding sulfate salts of copper (Panyuta et al., 2016).
Copper nanoparticles (CuNPs) was investigated as a fungicide against four phytopathogens by Kanhed et al. (2014), who found that CuNPs inhibit the mycelia development of F. oxysporum, Alternaria alternata, Curvularia lunata and Phoma destructive. Large surface area to volume ratio considered a promising and critical factor for efficacy the suppressing action of CuNPs (Abdel Ghany et al., 2018). Copper oxide nanoparticles (CuONPs) also were applied without any physiological toxicity for suppressed gray mold disease caused by Botrytis cinerea (Elmer and White 2016). Elmer et al. (2018) recorded less disease caused by F. oxysporum and Verticillium dahliae in Tomato and eggplant treated by CuONPs. The studies of Fusarium wilt of numerous plants are well advanced in some regions of the world, but are still narrow elsewhere in wheat. Therefore, the current research focused on controlling the causative agent of wheat wilt by CuONPs with studying the their effects on ultrastructure of pathogen and some biochemical changes in wheat plant.