Suppression of Fusarium wilt of cucumber by ammonia gas fumigation via reduction of Fusarium population in the field

Abstract

Cucumber plants subjected to consecutive monoculture for 9 years were found to suffer from severe Fusarium wilt disease, caused by the soil-borne fungus Fusarium oxysporum f. sp. Cucumerinum J. H. Owen. In the present study, greenhouse experiments were performed to evaluate the influence of ammonia gas fumigation on Fusarium wilt suppression, fungal abundance and fungal community composition. Results showed that ammonia gas fumigation remarkably reduced disease incidence from 80% to 27%, resulting in a four-fold increase in yield, compared to the control. Total fungal abundance declined dramatically after fumigation and reached the lowest level at day 32, at 243 times lower than the control. Moreover, fumigation significantly increased soil fungal diversity, though it also decreased considerably coinciding with cucumber growth. Fumigation also significantly altered soil fungal community composition, relative to the control. Fusarium was strongly inhibited by fumigation in both relative abundance (3.8 times lower) and targeted quantification (a decrease of 167 fold). Collectively, the application of ammonia gas fumigation to control Fusarium wilt of cucumber resulted in a re-assembly of the fungal community to resemble that of a non-disease conducive consortium. Additional strategies, such as bioorganic fertilizer application, may still be required to develop sustainable disease suppression following fumigation.

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“…Understandably, Fusarium proliferated during plant cultivation, which was probably because of the positive stimulation by specific root exudates released by lisianthus, such as cinnamic and phenolic acids (Ye, Yu, Peng, Zheng, & Zou, ). This result concurs with a previous study in which the relative abundance of Fusarium gradually increased during cucumber cultivation (Zhao et al, ). However, Fusarium abundance increased differently in the variously treated soils; for example, bagasse‐amended RSD soils were recolonized by Fusarium more slowly and disease incidence was less.…”

“…In general, the various management strategies significantly and differently changed the microbial properties. However, the different bacterial and fungal properties (number, diversity, community structure and composition) tended to be similar during the 11 months of lisianthus cultivation, and there is similar evidence, although not as explicit as in this study, in some previous papers (Mowlick et al, ; Zhao et al, ). Plant cultivation was a powerful controlling factor in the development of soil microbiota, and eventually similar soil microbial communities would be established even when originating from different microbial seedbanks generated by various management strategies.…”

Evaluation of Soil-Applied Chemical Fungicide and Biofungicide for Control of the Fusarium Wilt of Chrysanthemum and Their Effects on Rhizosphere Soil Microbiota

“…Fusarium oxysporum (Hypocreales, Ascomycota) is the causal agent of Fusarium wilt [3]. It has been reported to be one of the most destructive soilborne pathogens [4].…”

Community Structures and Antifungal Activity of Root-Associated Endophytic Actinobacteria in Healthy and Diseased Cucumber Plants and Streptomyces sp. HAAG3-15 as a Promising Biocontrol Agent

“…The disease could reducẽ 10% to 30% of cucumber production and cause quality degradation, which results in serious economic losses [8,9]. Fusarium wilt of cucumber disease may appear throughout the whole growth period of cucumber plant, and the disease incidence at early stages is more serious [10,11]. The symptoms of the disease are vascular and root wilt which eventually cause plant death [11,12].…”