Cultural Practices Improve Crop Tolerance to Nematodes

摘要

The effects of organic amendments and crop establishment on nematode densities and yields of susceptible vegetable crops were determined in sites infested with Meloidogyne incognita race 1, Paratrichodorus minor, Pratylenchus spp., and Criconemella spp. Separate experiments were conducted with yellow squash (Cucurbita pepo) and okra (Hibiscus esculentus). In each test, the design was a split plot, involving three compost treatments as main plots (269 mt/ha of a yard waste compost applied to the soil surface as a mulch, 269 mt/ha of compost incorporated into the soil, and an unamended control) and two methods of crop establishment as subplots (transplanted 3-week-old seedlings or direct seeding). Final densities (Pf) of Paratrichodorus minor and Pratylenchus spp. were low ( 14/100 cm soil) but were affected by compost treatments in some instances. Pf of M. incognita was high ( 270/100 cm soil) in all squash plots, and all plants were heavily galled ( 100 galls/root system), but M. in