Challenges and opportunities in harnessing soil disease suppressiveness for sustainable pasture production

Evaluation of the Microbial Viability of Soil Samples from Maize Crops in Freeze-Storage under Different Management Conditions in a Semi-Arid Climate

“…Other crops could have been used (i.e., sorghum or a gramineae/leguminosae consociation) but, because they have an equal or lower C/N ratio, according to Silva et al [29], than that of the chosen crop, the number of obtained microorganisms would be expectantly lower than that obtained. Optimum microorganism development is crucial, as it contributes in a decisive way to improve soil quality and sustainability according to previous studies [30][31][32][33][34][35][36][37] and, as we stated before, the freeze-thaw process did not affect most of the bacterial populations for a period of 44 months. However, one should keep in mind that, while one might expect the results to be very reproducible when working with similar soil microbial communities and environmental conditions, somehow different results could be obtained when studying very different soil microbial communities, principally because the effect of freeze-storage on the average cell viability of a given microbial community may well depend on its species composition.…”

Cost of root disease on white clover growth in New Zealand dairy pastures

“…In pastoral systems in particular, options for chemical control are currently limited to seed dressings (soil drenches being costly for broad-acre application), and plant breeding has yet to provide robust heritable resistance traits. However, the development of disease-suppressive soils offers one of the few approaches whereby gains in reducing disease in pastures may be achieved (Dignam et al 2016). The application of DNA based tools that can quantify the pathogen loading in soils over time will be an important component of this approach (Dignam et al 2016).…”

“…However, the development of disease-suppressive soils offers one of the few approaches whereby gains in reducing disease in pastures may be achieved (Dignam et al 2016). The application of DNA based tools that can quantify the pathogen loading in soils over time will be an important component of this approach (Dignam et al 2016). In addition, by monitoring pathogen populations during changes in farm management, e.g.…”

“…In addition, by monitoring pathogen populations during changes in farm management, e.g. shift in stocking rate, alteration of fertiliser inputs, or change of pasture composition, insights in to the ecology of the pathogens in farming systems can be gained, and potential opportunities to control population sizes identified (Dignam et al 2016).…”

“…Given the relatively high value of dairy-based pastoral land use, we aimed to calculate a conservative economic cost of root diseases to system profitability. As dairying is intensively managed, and typically conducted on accessible terrain, this land use provides greater opportunity for disease control than hill or high country pastoral systems (Dignam et al 2016). As such, dairy-based production is best positioned to provide disease management practices to reduce soil biological constraints to pasture production.…”