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Contribution of the endogeic earthworm species Aporrectodea caliginosa to the degradation of deoxynivalenol and Fusarium biomass in wheat straw

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Abstract

In arable fields managed by conservation tillage combined with crop residue mulching, plant pathogen repression is an important ecosystem service to prevent cultivated plants from fungal diseases and mycotoxin contamination. A laboratory microcosm study was conducted to investigate the contribution of the endogeic, geophagous earthworm species Aporrectodea caliginosa as a secondary decomposer to the reduction of the phytopathogenic fungus Fusarium culmorum and its mycotoxin deoxynivalenol (DON) in wheat straw residues. After 5 weeks experimental time, the Fusarium biomass and the DON concentration in aboveground straw were reduced considerably to the same extent both in presence and absence of A. caliginosa. Another substantial reduction of Fusarium biomass and DON concentration was found in belowground straw, which A. caliginosa had buried into the soil. Thus, we conclude that the particular contribution of secondary decomposers like A. caliginosa to the degradation of phytopathogenic fungi like Fusarium species and their mycotoxins like DON in the soil systems has to be assessed as minor.

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Acknowledgements

We thank Dr. Joachim Brunotte for providing the soil applied in the microcosms. The excellent technical assistance of Sabine El Sayed, Stefanie Schlißke and Bettina Schnauß is gratefully acknowledged.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Biodiversity, Johann Heinrich von Thünen-Institute (vTI), Federal Research Institute for Rural Areas, Forestry and Fisheries, Bundesallee 50, D-38116, Braunschweig, Germany

    Friederike Wolfarth & Stefan Schrader

  2. Institute for Plant Protection in Field Crops and Grassland, Julius Kühn-Institute (JKI), Federal Research Institute for Cultivated Plants, Messeweg 11/12, D-38104, Braunschweig, Germany

    Elisabeth Oldenburg

  3. Department of Plant Protection, Chamber of Agriculture Lower Saxony, Wunstorfer Landstraße 9, D-30453, Hannover, Germany

    Joachim Weinert

Authors
  1. Friederike Wolfarth
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  2. Stefan Schrader
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  3. Elisabeth Oldenburg
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  4. Joachim Weinert
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Correspondence to Friederike Wolfarth.

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Wolfarth, F., Schrader, S., Oldenburg, E. et al. Contribution of the endogeic earthworm species Aporrectodea caliginosa to the degradation of deoxynivalenol and Fusarium biomass in wheat straw. Mycotox Res 27, 215–220 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12550-011-0098-3

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12550-011-0098-3

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