Soil amendment with crop residues, organic waste, compost and peat for the control of soil-borne fungal pathogens

• Published in: Journal of plant pathology Vol. 89; no. 3; p. S32
• Main Authors: Bonanomi, G, Antignani, V, Pane, C, Scala, F
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: 01.12.2007
• Subjects: Fusarium; Phytophthora; Pythium; Rhizoctonia solani; Verticillium
• ISSN: 1125-4653

The utilization of organic matter (OM) has been proposed, both for conventional and biological agricultural systems, to decrease the incidence of plant diseases caused by soil-borne pathogens. In this work we reviewed the literature on the sup-pressive capacity of different OM materials and the response of different soil-borne pathogens to OM amendments. A total of 252 articles were included in the analysis, with 1964 experimental study cases. The effect of OM amendments was suppressive in 45% and non-significant in 35% of the cases, respectively. In 20% of the cases, a significant increase of disease incidence was observed. Compost was the most suppressive material, with more than 50% of the cases with effective disease control. Activity of crop residues was more variable. Disease incidence was suppressed in 45% but enhanced in 28% of the cases. Finally, a significant disease suppression with peat was recorded only in 4% of the experiments. OM suppressivity largely varied with different pathogens: it was observed in more than 50% of the cases for Verticillium, Thielaviopsis, Fusarium, Phytophthora and Pythium. In contrast, an effective control of Rhizoctonia solani was achieved only in 26% of the cases. From this review it emerges that application of OM amendments has a great potential but, at the same time, it presents some inconsistencies. Further investigations on the mechanisms by which OM acts on disease suppression are needed to make the use of these materials predictable.