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Can submerged macrophytes be effective for controlling waterborne phytopathogens in irrigation ponds? An experimental approach using microcosms

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Abstract

Irrigation ponds may act as a source of phytopathogenic species that might infest crops through the irrigation systems. Many studies have shown that submerged macrophytes can improve water clarity by out-competing phytoplankton by means of various mechanisms: favoured phytoplankton-grazing zooplankton, reduced nutrient and light availability, increased sinking losses and the release of allelopathically active substances. However, less information is available on the effects of submerged macrophytes on heterotrophic aquatic organisms such as pathogenic bacteria, fungi or oomycete species. This paper studies the effects of three submerged macrophytes—Chara fragilis, Potamogeton pectinatus and Najas marina—on the viability in water of propagules of two phytopathogenic isolates of the oomycetes Pythium aphanidermatum and Pythium ultimum. Moreover, we tested general antimicrobial properties (against bacteria and fungi in water) for these macrophytes. The results showed clear inhibitory effects of all three macrophytes on bacterial density in water and of C. fragilis on the viability of Pythium. Thus, preserving aquatic vegetation in irrigation ponds (i.e. charophytes), besides its purely environmental interest, may have important agronomic benefits owing to their role as biological control against some phytopathogenic agents.

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Acknowledgements

This research was funded by the ‘Agencia Andaluza del Agua, CMA, Junta de Andalucía’, contract: ‘Consultoría y Asistencia Técnica para el Plan Andaluz de Balsas de Riego’. Additional financial support was received through the ‘CICE, Junta de Andalucía’, project ‘P06-RNM01709’. We thank Enrique Descals and three anonymous reviewers for helpful discussion and language editing. Special thanks for the support provided by CIT COEXPHAL laboratories. JJC contributed to this paper during tenure of the grant CGL2012-39635.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Biology and Geology, ceiA3, University of Almería, 04120, Almería, Spain

    Melchor Juan, J. Jesús Casas, Irene Gallego, Francisca Fuentes-Rodríguez & Encarnación Fenoy

  2. Department of Agronomy, ceiA3, University of Almería, 04120, Almería, Spain

    Santiago Bonachela

  3. Laboratory of Phytopathology, LABCOLOR, COEXPHAL, Almería, Spain

    M. Antonia Elorrieta

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  1. Melchor Juan
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Correspondence to J. Jesús Casas.

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Juan, M., Casas, J.J., Elorrieta, M.A. et al. Can submerged macrophytes be effective for controlling waterborne phytopathogens in irrigation ponds? An experimental approach using microcosms. Hydrobiologia 732, 183–196 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10750-014-1875-8

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