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Efficacy of sludge and manure compost amendments against Fusarium wilt of cucumber

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Abstract

Fusarium wilt of cucumber caused by the fungus, Fusarium oxysporum, is one of the most destructive soilborne diseases and can result in serious economic loss. No efficient fungicide is currently available to control the disease. The aim of this study was to examine the disease suppression ability of pig manure and sludge composts in peat-based container media and explore the possible disease suppression mechanisms. Pig manure and sewage sludge compost were made in laboratory-scale tanks. Plant growth media were formulated with peat mixture and compost (or 60 °C heated compost) in a 4:1 ratio (v/v). Cucumber seedlings were artificially inoculated with F. oxysporum conidia (5 × 105 conidia mL−1) by the root-dip method. Cucumber Fusarium wilt was effectively suppressed in sludge compost-amended media, while the disease suppression effect of pig manure compost was limited. The ammonia levels in the manure compost-amended media were significantly higher than those of sludge compost-amended media, which could explain its lower disease suppression ability. Heated composts behaved similarly with respect to disease suppression. Adding composts increased microbial biomass, microbial activity, and the microbial diversity of the growth media. PCR-DGGE results indicated that the fungal community had a significant correlation to the disease severity. The artificially inoculated pathogen was retrieved in all treatments and one possible biocontrol agent was identified as a strain of F. oxysporum by phylogenetic analyses. The results indicated that the sludge compost used in this study could be applied as a method for biocontrol of cucumber Fusarium wilt.

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Acknowledgments

This study was supported by National Critical Project for Science and Technology on Water Pollution Prevention and Control (2008ZX07101-006 and 2012ZX07101012). We thank Professor Bingxin Zhang of the Department of Pant Pathology, Zhejiang University for providing inocula. The authors would like to thank all anonymous reviewers for their valuable comments and suggestions to the manuscript.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Ministry of Agriculture Key Laboratory of Non-point Source Pollution Control, Institute of Environmental Science and Technology, Zhejiang University, Yuhangtang Road 866#, Hangzhou, 310058, People’s Republic of China

    Xiao Huang, Dezhi Shi, Faqian Sun, Haohao Lu, Jingjing Liu & Weixiang Wu

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  1. Xiao Huang
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  2. Dezhi Shi
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  3. Faqian Sun
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  4. Haohao Lu
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  5. Jingjing Liu
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  6. Weixiang Wu
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Correspondence to Weixiang Wu.

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Responsible editor: Zhihong Xu

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Huang, X., Shi, D., Sun, F. et al. Efficacy of sludge and manure compost amendments against Fusarium wilt of cucumber. Environ Sci Pollut Res 19, 3895–3905 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-012-1025-7

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-012-1025-7

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