Biological Soil Disinfestation With Organic Fermentation Products

Abstract

Much research has been done on biological disinfestation of soil with grass and other fresh organic materials to suppress persistent diseases like Verticillium dahliae and nematode populations in the soil. After covering the soil with airtight plastic and creating an anaerobic environment, natural processes that will have a disinfesting effect on the soil are stimulated by the organic material. Practical conditions may vary enormously and so it seems that soil disinfestation with grass or other fresh materials is unpredictable. Growers find this method complicated and labor intensive. In particular, growers of horticultural crops are not enthusiastic about biological soil disinfestation with grass. As an alternative for fresh materials, organic fermentation products have been tested.Application is easier and effects occur faster than with fresh organic materials. Therefore, this method offers a chance to explore the possibilities for broad application in horticulture as an alternative for soil disinfestation with steam. Product H7022 (ThatchTec B.V., Wageningen, The Netherlands), consists of organic by-products from the food processing industry, and resulted in a 100% reduction of nematodes and Verticillium dahliae. The major drawback to this method is the treatment time of at least two weeks, which is too long for most greenhouse growers, as the costs of a two week time gap in production are too high, making it difficult to adapt to a greenhouse system. New research on organic fermentation of the soil is necessary to determine which processes cause soil disinfestation, during what time period this method causes an effect, and whether or not this method is suitable for use in soil-bound horticulture.

Evaluation of Agricultural Byproducts and Cover Crops as Anaerobic Soil Disinfestation Carbon Sources for Managing a Soilborne Disease Complex in High Tunnel Tomatoes

“…The availability and cost of these byproducts varies by region within the United States, depending on local agricultural industries. Agricultural byproducts commonly studied as ASD carbon sources include brans (Yossen et al, 2008;Momma et al, 2010;Shennan et al, 2018;Testen and Miller, 2019), seed meals (Shennan et al, 2018), molasses and molasses products (Butler et al, 2012a;McCarty et al, 2014), ethanol (Momma et al, 2010;Hewavitharana et al, 2014;Testen and Miller, 2018), crop residues (Blok et al, 2000;Messiha et al, 2007), pomaces (Domínguez et al, 2014;Achmon et al, 2016;Serrano-Pérez et al, 2017), poultry litter (Butler et al, 2012a), manures (Núñez-Zofío et al, 2011;López-Robles et al, 2013;Hewavitharana et al, 2014;Khadka et al, 2020), and high protein, fermented products (Ludeking et al, 2011;van Overbeek et al, 2014). Cover crops have potential as ASD carbon sources because they can be produced in situ and can be used to supplement agricultural byproducts as ASD amendments.…”