The Role of Soil Solarization in India: How an Unnoticed Practice Could Support Pest Control

Abstract

Plant protection represents one of the strategies to fill the yield gap and to achieve food security, a key topic for India development. Analysis of climate risks for crops indicates that South Asia is one of the regions most exposed to the adverse impact on many plants that are relevant to inhabitants exposed to food safety risks. Furthermore, accumulation of pesticide residues in the aquatic and other ecosystems is becoming a significant threat in India. These perspectives require to develop programs of crop protection that can be feasible according to Indian rural development and pollution policy. Here we review the research works done on soil solarization in India. Soil solarization (also called plasticulture) is an eco-friendly soil disinfestations method for managing soil-borne plant pathogens. This is the process of trapping solar energy by moist soil covered with transparent polyethylene films and chemistry, biology and physical properties of soil are involved in pest control. So far, this technique is applied in more than 50 countries, mostly in hot and humid regions. India has 29 states and these states fall under five climatic zones, from humid to arid ones. We report pest management application in different climatic zones and their effects on production, weeds, nematodes, and pathogenic microorganisms. The analysis of soil temperatures and crop protection results indicate as environmental requirement for soil solarization fits in most of Indian rural areas. Soil solarization is compatible with future Indian scenarios and may support Indian national food security programs.

Causes of citrus decline and its management practices adopted in Myagdi district, Nepal

“…Similarly, 51.1% of the farmers in the study area used to plant trees by filling the pits just after pit digging, while 48.9% used to leave the pit open for about 1 month before plantation for solarization. Soil solarization -an eco-friendly soil disinfestation method using sunlight-helps to manage different soil-borne plant pathogens ( Gill et al., 2017 ).…”

Combined Effects of Biosolarization and Brassica Amendments on Survival of Biocontrol Agents and Inhibition of Fusarium oxysporum

“…Disease-suppressive soils' physical, chemical, and biological characteristics strongly select different combinational management strategies [51]. More recently, the role of microbial communities in plant growth promotion, stress management, and disease control in plants has gained significant importance [52][53][54][55][56][57][58][59][60][61][62][63][64][65]. The specific metabolites in soil on biologically regulated disease control methods, such as biosolarization and anaerobic soil disinfestation, have gained interest, become the subject of research, and have revealed novel potential modes of disease control [52][53][54][55][56][57][58][59].…”

Review of Tarping and a Case Study on Small-scale Organic Farms

“…Clear plastic is sometimes used for solarization and weed control in areas where temperatures greater than 45 C can be achieved under the plastic Stapleton, 2000). When conditions are right for solarization, high temperatures reached under clear plastic are greater than under opaque tarps and can kill weed seeds as well as germinated weed seedlings Dahlquist et al, 2007;Gill et al, 2017;Lounsbury et al, 2020). However, when conditions are not ideal for high temperature accumulation under plastic covers, such as in cooler northern climates and maritime regions that are characterized by persistent cloud cover, tarps can outperform clear plastic in providing a false seedbed.…”