Balancing the scales: assessing the impact of irrigation and pathogen burden on potato blackleg disease and soil microbial communities.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Understanding the interaction between environmental conditions, crop yields, and soil health is crucial for sustainable agriculture in a changing climate. Management practices to limit disease are a balancing act. For example, in potato production, dry conditions favour common scab (Streptomyces spp.) and wet conditions favour blackleg disease (Pectobacterium spp.). The exact mechanisms involved and how these link to changes in the soil microbiome are unclear. Our objectives were to test how irrigation management and bacterial pathogen load in potato seed stocks impact: (i) crop yields; (ii) disease development (blackleg or common scab); and (iii) soil microbial community dynamics.

Methods

We used stocks of seed potatoes with varying natural levels of Pectobacteri

SUBMITTER: Keating C 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC11492761 | biostudies-literature | 2024 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature