*4.7. Greenhouse Experiments*

Seeds of tomato were surface sterilized in sodium hypochlorite for 30 min, washed five times in sterile water, and germinated in peat moss for three weeks (21DAS). The experiment was irrigated regularly and subsequently moved to experimental pots. Four weeks later, tomato seedlings were removed and their roots were washed and transplanted into the 20 cm diameter pots filled with pasteurized sandy clay soil at 0.9 kg per pot. The seedlings were treated with *M. spicata* and *M. longifolia* EOs at 1.25% and 1.0%, respectively, in the rhizosphere soil. Pots were arranged in a randomized complete block design with three replications. In the first experiment, the pots were divided into two main groups: untreated plants as negative control (C) and plants inoculated with *F. oxysporum* fungal suspension as positive control (P). In the second experiment, after 2 weeks from inoculation, negative control was treated with 50 mL *M. spicata* EOs (1.25%) (T1) and 50 mL *M. longifolia* EOs (1.0%) (T2). In addition, the positive control was treated with 50 mL *M. spicata* EOs (1.25%) (P + T1) and 50 mL *M. longifolia* EOs (1.0%) (P+T2). All the plants continued growth after transplantation with regular irrigation every 3 days for 2 weeks in a greenhouse at 22/16 ◦C, 65–70% humidity. We then evaluated all pots for the incidence of *F. oxysporum* root rot.

#### 4.7.1. Disease Assessments

The disease severity (DS) was evaluated using the 0–5 scale described by Filion et al. [76]:

$$\text{Disease severity} \left( \% \right) = \left( \sum \text{ab} / \text{AK} \right) \times 100$$

where a = number of diseased plants with the same infection degree, b = infection degree, A = total number of the evaluated plants, and K = the greatest infection degree.

Whereas the disease incidence (DI) was calculated according to the following equation:

$$\text{Disease incidence (\%)} = \text{(a/A)} \times 100$$

where a = number of diseased plants, and A = total number of evaluated plants.
