EFFECTS OF MANAGEMENT-PRACTICES ON NEMATODE AND FUNGUS POPULATIONS AND CUCUMBER YIELD

  • 1 January 1979
    • journal article
    • research article
    • Vol. 11  (1) , 84-93
Abstract
Three crops of cucumber [Cucumis sativus] were grown in succession in beds by use of trickle irrigation, plastic film mulch and soil chemical treatments over a 17 mo. period, including a fallow winter season. Total yield for the 3 crops was highest (1208 quintals/ha) in film-mulched plots treated with MBR-CP [methyl bromide-chloropicrin], and next-highest in film-mulched plots treated with DD-MENCS [methyl isothiocyanate + chlorinated C3 hydrocarbons] (1094 quintals/ha); total yield was only 456 quintals/ha in film-mulched control (untreated) plots. Yield in untreated film-mulched plots was 256% of that in untreated unmulched plots (178 quintals/ha). Plant growth and yields were greatest when populations of nematodes and soil-borne fungi were suppressed to very low levels. The residual control by soil treatments lasted longest on Meloidogyne incognita and Fusarium solani.