The influence of fungicides on Arthrobotrys oligospora in simulated putting green soil

Abstract

Plant-parasitic nematodes are destructive pests in bentgrass putting greens. Few chemical or nonchemical approaches for nematode management exist. Studies were conducted to determine: the in vitro tolerance of the nematophagous fungus Arthrobotrys oligospora, to the fungicides chlorothalonil and myclobutanil used to manage diseases on putting greens; the concentration of fungicides obtained from simulated putting green soil; and the ability of the fungus to reduce populations of the ring nematode, Criconemella ornata. Both fungicides reduced in vitro hyphal growth and germination of conidia above 10 mg kg -1 . Soil concentrations of chlorothalonil were less than 5 mg kg -1 and concentrations of myclobutanil were below detection limits. Nematode populations were not affected by A. oligospora in simulated greens but nematode populations were lowest in pots inoculated with A. oligospora and receiving fungicide treatments. Results of these studies indicate that applications of chlorothalonil and myclobutanil used to manage fungal diseases of bentgrass may not adversely affect A. oligospora; however, the fungus may not reduce nematode populations below desired thresholds.

Microbial control of plant-parasitic nematodes: a five-party interaction

“…Under the same host species, the effect of host age and genotype Plant Soil (2006) 288:31-45 37 on the biocontrol performance of Pseudomonas fluorescens was also detected by Siddiqui and Shaukat (2003 Artificial practices Phytonematode MCA will generally be used simutaneously or sequentially, in combination with an array of pest control or crop cultivation practices. MCA's responsiveness to pesticide is species (Jacobs et al 2003) and concentrationdependent (Cayrol 1983;Kim and Riggs 1995;Woodward et al 2005). Among the cultivation practices, irrigation (Dabiré et al 2005) affected directly the distribution of the spores in soil pores related to their passive transport by water flow.…”