Co-Authors:
Mandelbaum, R., Soil and Water Institute, Agricultural Research Organization, Volcani Research Center, Bet-Dagan, Israel
Hadar, Y., Dept. Plant Protect. and Microbiol., Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Rehovot, Israel
Abstract:
Pythium damping-off and root-rot are among the most important soilborne diseases of greenhouse plants and seedlings grown in container media. It has been shown previously that composts may be conducive, suppressive or partially suppressive to Pythium diseases. The major goal of this work was to investigate rapid, practical and reliable methods for determining of the degree of suppressiveness of container media to Pythium damping-off. Several inoculation methods were tested in greenhouse bioassays. survival of propagules in suppressive versus conducive media was studied under laboratory conditions. Although both greenhouse and laboratory tests could indicate disease suppression, a bioassay with cucumber seedlings is suggested to be the most simple, effective and comprehensive method for testing suppression of Pythium diseases in compost amended container media.