Transfer of Biological Soil Suppressiveness Against Heterodera schachtii

ABSTRACT Heterodera schachtii-suppressive soil at a rate of either 1 or 10% (dry wt/wt) transferred suppressiveness against the beet cyst nematode to fumigated field plots when mixed into the upper 10-cm soil layer. Soil suppressiveness was established after 1 month of moist fallow and 77 days of Swiss chard cropping in the 10% transfer treatment and after 230 days in the 1% transfer treatment. The number of infective second-stage juveniles (J2) of H. schachtii, monitored initially at 150 degree-day intervals and later at 300 degree-day intervals, indicated the status of suppressiveness in the different treatments during the cropping period. In a greenhouse experiment, amending fumigated field soil with 0.1, 1.0, or 10% suppressive soil, suppressed multiplication of H. schachtii when soils were infested with an additional 5,000 J2. In a second greenhouse experiment, a fumigated sandy loam amended with 10 or 25% suppressive soil and a fumigated loam amended with 25% suppressive soil had significantly fewer eggs per cyst than the nonamended fumigated treatments when 1,000 J2 were added.