Influence of calcium, potassium, and magnesium on Cornus florida L. density and resistance to dogwood anthracnose

Abstract

Dogwood anthracnose, a major disease of Cornus florida L., has caused heavy mortality of C. florida in eastern United States forests. Disease severity and rate of infection have been shown to vary with several environmental factors, but the link between soil cation availability and anthracnose has not been examined. We hypothesized that soil cation availability, particularly calcium (Ca), potassium (K), and magnesium (Mg), would influence dogwood survival from anthracnose. In forested stands, positive correlations between soil Ca, K, and Mg saturation and C. florida stem density and basal area were found. The effect of these cations at four levels (0, 50, 100, and 200%) of a standard nursery fertilization rate on C. florida seedling survival and resistance to dogwood anthracnose was tested. Although most of the seedlings died after one season of exposure to dogwood anthracnose, seedlings that had lower inputs of Ca and K cations showed higher levels of disease severity sooner than seedlings in other treatments, suggesting that these nutrients play a role in C. florida survival from anthracnose. Magnesium treatment levels did not appear to have an effect on C. florida disease severity or mortality.

The response of date palm to calcareous soil fertilisation

“…Potassium is necessary for basic physiological functions, such as the formation of sugars and starch, the synthesis of proteins, cell division and growth, fruit formation and could improve fruit size, flavour and colour (Abbas and Fares, 2008). Potassium has been shown to promote plant disease reduction, and potassium stress can increase the degree of crop damage by bacterial and fungal diseases (Holzmueller et al, 2007). Furthermore, the last few years have seen increasing concern regarding the use of sulphur applications to reduce alkalinity in calcareous soil (Abbey et al, 2002), and sulphur has become one of the most strongly limiting nutrients in agricultural production (Eriksen et al, 2004).…”

Interaction between potassium (K) and calcium (Ca) on the severity of Yellow Sigatoka in banana plants

“…However, opposite results were found with double amount of K, 16% K 2 O (Holzmueller et al, 2007). That is, as the effect of K on intensity of disease depends on Figure 3.…”

Phytohormone-Induced Resistance against <i>Xanthomonas axonopodis</i> PV. <i>citri</i> in <i>Citrus aurantifolia</i>

“…One reason may be the phenolic compounds that trigger an increase in extra cellular pH and K + [39] although other possibility was not figure out. Again, Higher K + concentrations decreased the internal competition of pathogens for nutrient resources that enables plants to allocate more resources to developing stronger cell walls for preventing pathogen infection [40].…”