Soil Suppressiveness to Fusarium Disease Following Organic Amendments and Solarization

Abstract

Soil suppressiveness to soilborne pathogens can evolve following the incorporation of plant residues in the soil and solarization. We studied its occurrence by assessing disease incidence and severity in sandy soil which was infested after the disinfestation treatment. Disease incidence and severity of crown and root rot in cucumber plants inoculated with Fusarium oxysporum f. sp. radicis-cucumerinum macroconidia were reduced by 20 to 80% when seedlings were planted in the tested soils 2 to 34 months after soil amendment. Residues of Diplotaxis tenuifolia (wild rocket [WR]), Artemisia dracunculus (tarragon), Salvia officinalis (sage), and Brassica oleracea var. italica (broccoli) were most effective for inducing soil suppressiveness. Effective soil suppressiveness continued to be evident after repeated inoculations and plantings in the same soil without additional treatment between inoculations. Moreover, residues of WR induced soil suppressiveness in two additional tested soils differing in their physical and chemical properties. Residues of Rosmarinus officinalis (rosemary), Coriandrum sativum (coriander), Mentha piperita (peppermint), and B. oleraceae var. botrytis (cauliflower) induced disease suppression at the first inoculated planting but not upon repeated inoculation and planting. The contribution of soil solarization to the evolution of soil suppressiveness, albeit evident, was inconsistent. Soil suppressiveness to Fusarium crown and root rot was also observed when cucumber seed were sown in soils which were initially amended with WR residues and later infested with F. oxysporum f. sp. radicis-cucumerinum chlamydospores. There is a potential for the use of plant residues for inducing soil suppressiveness and further contributing to the control of diseases caused by soilborne pathogens.

Organic amendments conditions on the control of Fusarium crown and root rot of asparagus caused by three Fusarium spp.

“…The multiple mechanisms involved determine the thermal inactivation of the pathogen due to increased soil temperature (Katan et al, 1976), or the weakening of pathogen propagules that become more susceptible to competition or antagonistic activity of the indigenous soil microflora (Stapleton, 2000). Soil solarization, either alone or combined with organic amendments, and soil flooding, are effective in controlling many soilborne plant pathogens (Katan, 1981;Blok et al, 2000;Klein et al, 2011;Melero-Vara et al, 2011). In addition, soil solarization frequently enhances plant growth by improving soil structure, releasing nutrients (Chen et al, 1991) and stimulating plant growth promoting rhizobacteria (Gamliel & Stapleton, 1993).…”

Comparative analysis of microbial diversity and bacterial seedling disease‐suppressive activity in organic‐farmed and standardized commercial conventional soils for rice nursery cultivation

“…The observed suppressive effects of organic‐farmed soils on bacterial seedling diseases were consistent with our previous report showing the suppressive effect of independent organic‐farmed soils on bacterial rice seedling diseases (Ando et al., ). Various physicochemical or biological properties that have been noted upon the addition of organic amendments to soil could be associated with disease‐suppressive activity (Bonanomi et al., ; Borrero, Trillas, Ordovás, Tello, & Avilés, ; Hoitink, ; Klein et al., ; Steinberg, Edel‐Hermann, Alabouvette, & Lemanceau, ). In our experiments, comparison of the physicochemical properties of organic‐farmed soil with those of commercial conventional soil suggested that many organic‐farmed soils but not all analysed here had higher of CEC value (Table ).…”

Evaluation of chemical alternatives to methyl bromide in tomato crops in China

“…Among substitutive chemicals, currently registered alternatives to MB are chloropicrin (CP); 1,3-dichloropropene (1,3-D); methyl isothiocyanate (MITC) generators such as Metam sodium (MNa) and Dazomet (DZ), abamectin (AB) and their combinations (Qiao et al, 2012;Mao et al, 2012;Yan et al, 2012). Other alternatives to MB fumigation may be the use of non-chemical methods, such as soil solarization, organic amendments and biocontrol agents (Klein et al, 2011;Caboni et al, 2013;Hu et al, 2013). However, nonchemical control methods alone are often unsuitable because they do not provide the broad-spectrum activity or the degree of consistency achieved with MB fumigation (Chellemi, 2002).…”