Cultural Practices: The Effect of Plant Density and Irrigation Regimes on Verticillium Wilt of Cotton

Abstract

Verticillium wilt caused by the soil-borne fungus Verticillium dahliae, affects a wide variety of cultivated and ornamental plants. In California, as in many other parts of the world, the disease is of major economic importance on cotton, pistachio, olive, tomato, strawberry, and potato. At present, control of the disease is limited to planting resistant or tolerant cultivars when available and to reduction of inoculum density in soil by fumigation or solarization, which, with crops such as cotton, is often economically unfeasible. Alternative approaches involve the use of cultural practices which minimize disease incidence and/or disease severity. This report summarizes the findings of our work on the use of cultural practices for minimizing yield losses from Verticillium wilt in cotton.