DELTOUR et al. Disease suppressiveness to Fusarium wilt of banana in an agroforestry system

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Agriculture, Ecosystems and Environment 239 (2017) 173–181

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Disease suppressiveness to Fusarium wilt of banana in an agroforestry system: Influence of soil characteristics and plant community Pauline Deltoura,b , Soraya C. Françaa , Olinto Liparini Pereirab , Irene Cardosoc , Stefaan De Neved , Jane Debodee , Monica Höftea,* a

Laboratory of Phytopathology, Department of Crop Protection, Faculty of Bioscience Engineering, Ghent University, Coupure Links 653, 9000, Ghent, Belgium Laboratório de Micologia e Etiologia de Doenças Fúngicas de Plantas, Departamento de Fitopatologia, Universidade Federal de Viçosa, Avenida Peter Henry Rolfs s/n, 36570-900, Viçosa, MG, Brazil c Departamento de Solos, Universidade Federal de Viçosa, Avenida Peter Henry Rolfs s/n, 36570-900, Viçosa, MG, Brazil d Department of Soil Management, Faculty of Bioscience Engineering, Ghent University, Coupure Links 653, 9000, Ghent, Belgium e Plant Sciences Unit – Crop Protection, Institute for Agricultural and Fisheries Research (ILVO), Burg. van Gansberghelaan 106, 9820, Merelbeke, Belgium b

A R T I C L E I N F O

Article history: Received 18 August 2016 Received in revised form 5 January 2017 Accepted 15 January 2017 Available online xxx Keywords: Panama disease Fusarium oxysporum f. sp. cubense Soil suppressiveness Banana varieties Soil microbial community Musa sp.

A B S T R A C T

One of the most destructive diseases of banana is Fusarium wilt or Panama disease, caused by the soilborne fungus Fusarium oxysporum f. sp. cubense (Foc). Foc is widespread in almost all banana-growing areas and cannot be effectively controlled by chemical or biological measures. Fusarium wilt could potentially be managed by the promotion of soil disease suppressiveness, but little is known how soils attain a higher level of disease suppression and how crop management can impact on this. Banana cultivar (cv.) Maçã, a cultivar highly susceptible to Foc race 1, was grown on a farm managed as agroforestry system in Pedra Dourada, Brazil, where Foc race 1 is present in soil. At some locations on the farm banana plants of cv. Maçã stayed productive, while on others it succumbed rapidly. We hypothesized that the differences in disease severity on the farm could be attributed to different levels of soil disease suppressiveness. In this study, we assessed the level of disease suppression of the different locations and elucidated potential factors that could promote disease suppression in soil. Patches with confirmed presence of Foc race 1 were sampled and tested for Fusarium wilt suppression in greenhouse assays. The plant community composition, soil abiotic properties and soil microbial community of the different locations were compared. Locations with a higher level of disease suppression were characterized by a low density of the susceptible cv. Maçã, a high diversity of other banana varieties, a higher clay content, higher pH and lower soil cover by graminoids. Banana cv. Ouro was only present in the three most suppressive patches. The results of this study suggest that in soils with favorable abiotic properties, a good plant arrangement, in which cv. Maçã is grown in mixed stands with other banana varieties, can help to promote Fusarium wilt suppression. © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction In tropical regions, banana is of high socioeconomic importance, since it is a cash crop in export-oriented plantations, and a food- and cash crop on smallholder farms. Banana is a robust crop with high returns on input, but production of certain cultivars is often restrained by Panama disease (Fusarium wilt), a wilt disease caused by the soil-borne fungus Fusarium oxysporum f.sp. cubense (Foc) (de Oliveira e Silva et al., 2001). Since Foc can produce longterm survival structures, the chlamydospores, or survives as a

* Corresponding author. E-mail address: monica.hofte@ugent.be (M. Höfte). http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.agee.2017.01.018 0167-8809/© 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

saprophyte on non-host plant, it is virtually impossible to get rid of the pathogen once the soil is infested. Foc is disseminated via contaminated soil on wheels and shoes, contaminated tools, runoff and irrigation water, latently infected planting material and insects (Meldrum et al., 2013; Ploetz, 2015). Foc levels in soil cannot reliably be monitored as the pathogen is not morphologically distinguishable from non-pathogenic F. oxysporum, and molecular detection methods are still in development (Dita et al., 2010; Peng et al., 2014). Based on pathogenicity to specific cultivars, Foc has been subdivided into four races, three of which are of economic importance. Cultivars of the groups Gros Michel (AAA) and Silk (AAB) are susceptible to race 1, while cooking bananas, such as


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