Effect of soil biodisinfection on soil fungal communities associated to horticultural crops

Abstract

Martín-Guirao, de Cara-García, M., Tello-Marquina, J.C. 2019. Effect of soil biodisinfection on soil fungal communities associated to horticultural crops. Ecosistemas 28(3):63-72. Doi.: 10.7818/ECOS.1708

Effect of soil biodisinfection on soil fungal communities associated to horticultural crops: Soil disinfection is a common practice in horticulture, that can influence the composition and structure of edaphic microorganism communities. Bio-disinfection is a method that provokes a decrease in the pathogenic inoculum in the soil, although by incorporating organic amendments as a bio-disinfectant material, the impact on other fungal populations is not only biocide. In this work we have studied the effect of bio-disinfection with different organic materials on a cultivable fungal fraction (fungi and oomycetes) present in the soil of a greenhouse, with and without solarisation, as well as, its variation along the sequence of watermelon and tomato crops. Regardless of the addition of the bio-disinfection technique evaluated, the fungal densities and diversity of the topsoil were significantly reduced. Subsequently, the presence of fungi in the soil increased with the first crop, and remained, increasing at the end of the second crop. However, the values of micodiversity were not fully restored, with the control soil without the addition of organic matter or solarization, recovering the greatest diversity at the end of the study. The prevalence of Acremonium, Alternaria, Aspergillus, Cladosporium, Fusarium and Penicillium in most of the samples reflects a potential fungal functionality that would not be lost in these productive systems with this type of bio-disinfection. The remaining functionality is linked to soil fertility, phytopathogenicity, antagonism, or food source for other trophic levels.