Various biological amendments, including commercial biocontrol agents, microbial inoculants, mycorrhizae, and an aerobic compost tea (ACT), were evaluated, alone and in conjunction with different crop rotations, for their efficacy in introducing beneficial microorganisms, affecting soil microbial community characteristics (SMCC), and reducing soilborne diseases of potato in greenhouse and field...

The agents (pathogens) that cause soilborne diseases of peanut are various fungi and nematodes that survive in the soil and infect one or more parts of the plant at or below the soil surface. Soilborne diseases can severely limit peanut yields in Oklahoma, particularly in fields where long rotations with nonhost crops are not practiced. Southern blight and Sclerotinia blight are probably the mo...

ABSTRACT Nonchemical methods including host resistance, organic amendments, crop rotation, soil solarization, and cultural practices have been used to control soilborne pests in fresh market vegetable production systems. Their suitability as alternatives to methyl bromide will depend on the approach to pest management used by the grower. Traditionally, methyl bromide is used in production syste...

Invasive soilborne plant pathogens cause substantial damage to crops and natural populations, but our understanding of how to prevent their epidemics or reduce their damage is limited. A key and experimentally-tested concept in the epidemiology of soilborne plant diseases is that of a threshold spacing between hosts below which epidemics (invasive spread) can occur. We extend this paradigm by e...

Biochar, in addition to sequestering carbon, ameliorating soil, and improving plant performance, can impact foliar and soilborne plant diseases. Nevertheless, the mechanisms associated with suppression of soilborne diseases and improved plant performances are not well understood. This study is designed to establish the relationships between biochar-induced changes in rhizosphere microbial commu...

Meadowfoam (Limnanthes alba L.) is a herbaceous winter-spring annual grown as a commercial oilseed crop. The meal remaining after oil extraction from the seed contains up to 4% of the glucosinolate glucolimnanthin. Degradation of glucolimnanthin yields toxic breakdown products, and therefore the meal may have potential in the management of soilborne pathogens. To maximize the pest-suppressive p...

Three soilborne viruses transmitted by Polymyxa betae KESKIN in sugar beet have been described: Beet necrotic yellow vein virus (BNYVV), the agent of rhizomania, Beet soilborne virus (BSBV), and Beet virus Q (BVQ). A multiplex reverse transcription-PCR technique was developed to simultaneously detect BNYVV, BSBV, and BVQ, together with their vector, P. betae. The detection threshold of the test...

ABSTRACT An air pressure cell, a laboratory tool that precisely controls soil matric potential, was utilized in a novel approach to investigate the epidemiology and management of soilborne disease. Matric potentials of -1, -5, -20, and -40 kPa were established in cores of field soil infested with Wheat soilborne mosaic virus (WSBMV) and its presumed vector Polymyxa graminis. Equilibrated soil c...

Soilborne fungal pathogens cause devastating yield losses and are highly persistent and difficult to control. During the infection process, these organisms must cope with limited availability of iron. Here we show that the bZIP protein HapX functions as a key regulator of iron homeostasis and virulence in the vascular wilt fungus Fusarium oxysporum. Deletion of hapX does not affect iron uptake ...