Root-Knot and Root-Lesion Nematode Suppression by Cover Crops, Poultry Litter, and Poultry Litter Compost

Experiments using soil-incorporated cover crops and amendments of poultry litter (PL) and PL compost to suppress root-knot (RKN) and root-lesion nematodes were conducted in response to increasing nematode populations in Maryland's potato production areas. Identical experiments were established in microplots infested with Meloidogyne incognita or Pratylenchus penetrans. Treatments consisted of 12 3-year rotational sequences comprising potato (year 1) and cucumber (year 2) followed by a moderately RKN-resistant or susceptible soybean cultivar, castor bean, grain sorghum, or sorghum sudangrass; PL or PL compost were amended to some of the RKN-susceptible soybean and sorghum sudangrass plots. In the third year of the rotation, potato followed by soybean was planted in all 12 treatments. The RKN-resistant soybean, castor bean, sorghum sudangrass, and fallow or tillage decreased the populations of M. incognita compared with microplots where RKN-susceptible soybean had been grown. However, RKN populations quickly recovered. Root-lesion nematode was reduced in the spring of 2001 following application of high rates of PL and PL compost in 2000. In the fall of 2001, sorghum sudangrass alone or in combination with PL or PL compost, grain sorghum, or fallow or tillage reduced root-lesion nematodes compared with either soybean cultivar. No treatment affected root-lesion nematode the following year. The use of cover crops and PL compost is an effective method to reduce nematode populations only if successively incorporated into rotational cropping sequences.