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Evaluation of apple replant problems based on different soil disinfection treatments—links to soil microbial community structure?

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Abstract

Background and aims

Replant problems or soil sickness are known phenomena but still unsolved. The aims of this study were (i) to set up a test system for detecting replant problems using in vitro propagated apple rootstocks (M26) based on different soil disinfection treatments and (ii) to explore the treatment effects on root morphology and soil microbial community structure.

Methods

The bio-test involved soil with apple replant problems (apple sick) and healthy soil from an adjacent plot, both either untreated, or submitted to treatments of 50 and 100 °C, or the chemical soil disinfectant Basamid. Histological analyses of roots and denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis (DGGE) fingerprints in rhizosphere soil collected at the final evaluation were performed.

Results

After 10 weeks, shoot dry mass on apple sick soil was 79, 108 and 124 % higher for soil treated at 50 °C, 100 °C and with Basamid, respectively, compared to the untreated soil. Roots in untreated apple sick soil showed destroyed epidermal and cortical layers. DGGE fingerprints revealed treatment dependent differences in community composition and relative abundance of total bacteria, Bacillus, Pseudomonas and total fungi.

Conclusions

The clear differences detected in soil microbial communities are the first steps towards a better understanding of the causes for apple replant problems.

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Abbreviations

DGGE:

denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis

EDTA:

ethylene diamine tetraacetic acid

ITS:

internal transcribed spacer

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Acknowledgements

We thank Dr. Andreas Wrede, Chamber of Agriculture in Schleswig-Holstein, Centre for Horticulture Ellerhoop-Thiensen, for collecting the soil for these experiments, the nurseries Blanck and Cordes for providing soils and Dr. Lihua Zhu, SLU Alnarp, Sweden, for in vitro cultures of M26. We are also thankful to Ute Zimmerling and Bernadette Schultz for technical assistance in DGGE analysis and to Dr. Heike Bohne and Dr. Holger Heuer for critically reading the manuscript. The financial support by the DAAD (Deutscher Akademischer Austauschdienst) for Bunlong Yim is gratefully acknowledged.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Leibniz Universität Hannover—Institute of Floriculture and Woody Plant Science, Tree Nursery Science Section, Herrenhäuser Str. 2, 30419, Hannover, Germany

    Bunlong Yim & Traud Winkelmann

  2. Julius Kühn-Institut, Institute for Epidemiology and Pathogen Diagnostics, Messeweg 11-12, 38104, Braunschweig, Germany

    Kornelia Smalla

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  1. Bunlong Yim
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Correspondence to Traud Winkelmann.

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Responsible Editor: Peter A.H. Bakker.

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Yim, B., Smalla, K. & Winkelmann, T. Evaluation of apple replant problems based on different soil disinfection treatments—links to soil microbial community structure?. Plant Soil 366, 617–631 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11104-012-1454-6

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