Abstract
Purpose
Soil fauna are potential regulators of plant pathogens and soil nutrient cycles. However, direct evidence demonstrating faunal controls over pathogens and plant diseases is still limited. Interactions between diverse faunal groups, soilborne pathogen, and microbial community remain elusive.
Methods
The fungivorous nematode Aphelenchus avenae, two collembolan species (Hypogastrura perplexa and Sinella curviseta), and their combinations were introduced to test their suppression effects on the soilborne fungus Pythium ultimum in tomato, and impacts on microbial biomass and activities in soil.
Results
The introduction of A. avenae, H. perplexa and combinations of three faunal species decreased tomato seedlings damping-off incidence, and nematode suppressed P. ultimum population in the microcosms. The damping-off disease suppression efficiency is different between faunal treatments, with A. avenae and diverse faunal treatments were more efficient, followed by H. perplexa. The disease suppression effects of S. curviseta were poor. This may be attributed to the non-specific feeding preference of collembolan, different spatial niches and body size of three species. Furthermore, A. avenae and H. perplexa inoculation increased the soil respiration. S. curviseta increased the microbial biomass carbon and nitrogen in microcosms compared with other faunal treatments. These suggest that activities of soil fauna may promote microbial turnover and nutrient cycling to alleviate plant disease.
Conclusion
Fungivorous nematode A. avenae and collembola H. perplexa can promote the activities of soil microbes, and alleviate damping-off disease incidence caused by P. ultimum in tomato. Effective management of soil fauna is recommended to control root pathogens and maintain tomato health in organic farming systems.
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Acknowledgements
We thank Karen Parker for her help during the whole experiment. We are grateful to H. G. Diab EI-Arab, Howard David Shew and Mary Barbercheck for their useful suggestions. Acknowledgement is also extended to Guillermo Ramirez for his help with N determination. The research was supported by the grants from the USDA-NRI (2000-00531), National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 31901192) and the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities.
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P. Z., W. Z. and S. H. conceived and designed the study. P. Z. analyzed the data and wrote the first draft of manuscript, all authors edited the manuscript and approved the final version to submit.
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Zhang, P., Zhang, W. & Hu, S. Fungivorous nematode Aphelenchus avenae and collembola Hypogastrura perplexa alleviate damping-off disease caused by Pythium ultimum in tomato. Plant Soil 482, 175–189 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11104-022-05680-2
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11104-022-05680-2