Peanut-cotton-rye rotations and soil chemical treatment for managing nematodes and thrips.

In the southeastern United States, a cotton-peanut rotation is attractive because of the high value and extensive planting of both crops in the region. The objective of this experiment was to determine the effects of cotton-peanut rotations, rye, and soil chemical treatments on management of plant-parasitic nematodes, thrips, and soilborne fungal diseases and on crop yield. Peanut-cotton-rye rotations were conducted from 1988 to 1994 on Tifton loamy sand (Plinthic Kandiudult) infested primarily with Meloidogyne incognita race 3, Belonolaimus longicaudatus, Sclerotium rolfsii, Rhizoctonia solani, and Fusarium oxysporum. Continuous peanut, continuous cotton, cotton-peanut rotation, or peanut-cotton rotation were used as main plots; winter rye or fallow as sub-plots; and cotton with and without aldicarb (3.36 kg a.i./ha), or peanut with and without aldicarb (3.36 kg a.i./ha) plus flutolanil (1.12 kg a.i./ha), as sub-sub-plots. Population densities of M. incognita and B. longicaudatus declined rapidly after the first crop in continuous peanut and remained low thereafter. Neither rye nor soil chemical treatment affected M. incognita or B. longicaudatus population density on peanut or cotton. Cotton and peanut yields from the cotton-peanut rotation were 26% and 10% greater, respectively, than those from monoculmre over the 7-year study. Cotton and peanut yields were improved 9% and 4%, respectively, following rye vs. fallow. Soil chemical treatments increased yields of cotton 23% and peanut 32% over those of untreated plots. Our data demonstrate the sustainable benefits of using cotton-peanut rotations, winter rye, and soil chemical treatments to manage plant-parasitic nematodes and other pests and pathogens and improve yield of both cotton and peanut.