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Effect of prior tillage and soil fertility amendments on dispersal of Phytophthora capsici and infection of pepper

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Abstract

Organic soil amendments including composted cotton gin trash, composted poultry manure, an incorporated rye-vetch green manure, or synthetic fertilizer were applied to subplots, and main plots were either tilled frequently or surface-mulched in experimental field plots between 1997 and 2004. Soil from each replication of the tillage and fertility treatments was sampled in August of 2001, 2002, and 2003, brought to the greenhouse, and infested with Phytophthora capsici to study the effect of previous soil treatments on disease incidence and dispersal of the pathogen. Both the previous tillage and fertility amendments affected the incidence of disease and dispersal of the pathogen. Final disease incidence, AUDPC and the distance of pathogen spread were significantly greater in soils with previous surface mulch applications than in frequently tilled soils. Final disease incidence, AUDPC and the distance of pathogen spread were also significantly higher in soils amended with cotton gin trash, than rye-vetch green manure, poultry manure, or synthetic fertilizer. Soils amended with cotton gin trash had higher soil water content, lower bulk density, higher humic matter content, higher porosity and higher levels of mineralizable N, than soils with other fertility amendments. Soil water content, soil porosity, humic matter content, and net mineralizable levels nitrogen were positively correlated and bulk density was negatively correlated with final incidence of disease.

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Acknowledgments

This research was funded by grant number 2001-0978 from the Biologically Based Pest Management Strategies panel of the National Research Initiatives Competitive Grants Programme, US Department of Agriculture. We thank Ms. Jennet Parker and Dr. Huiqin Xue for the statistical assistance and Dr. Cong Tu for analysis of the soil microbial activity, carbon and nitrogen analysis. We thank Ms. Debbie Glenn, Katrina Buckley, and Josie Bloom for technical assistance.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Plant Pathology, North Carolina State University, Box 7616, Raleigh, NC, 27695-7616, USA

    Bo Liu, Shuijin Hu & Jean Beagle Ristaino

  2. Department of Statistics, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, NC, 27695-7616, USA

    Marcia L. Gumpertz

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  1. Bo Liu
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  2. Marcia L. Gumpertz
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  3. Shuijin Hu
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  4. Jean Beagle Ristaino
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Correspondence to Jean Beagle Ristaino.

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Liu, B., Gumpertz, M.L., Hu, S. et al. Effect of prior tillage and soil fertility amendments on dispersal of Phytophthora capsici and infection of pepper. Eur J Plant Pathol 120, 273–287 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10658-007-9216-7

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10658-007-9216-7

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