Effects of cultivation of preceding plants on the development of Fusarium wilt of cucumber and daikon

Abstract

The effects of the cultivation of preceding plants on the inhibition of Fusarium wilts, vessel diseases of cucumber (Cucumis sativus) caused by Fusarium oxysporum f. sp. cucumerinum (FOC) and yellows of daikon (Raphanus sativus var. longipinnatus) caused by F. oxysporum f. sp. raphani (FOR), were examined. When the cucumber or daikon plant was cultivated as a succeeding plant in the pots where the soils had been inoculated with a spore suspension of FOe or FOR and then various preceding plants had been cultivated, the percentage of disease of the succeeding plants was lower in some plots than in the control plot without preceding plants. Spinach (Spinacia oleracea, cv. Atlas) and burdock (Arctium lappa, cv. Takinogawa) inhibited significantly the vessel disease caused by FOe. Thrnip (Brassica rapa, Parental Line Nou No.1) and spinach (S. oleracea, cv. Try) suppressed the yellows caused by FOR. When the number of FOC or FOR was estimated by the recovery using Komada med.ium and by testing their pathogenicity to the host plant, cucumber or daikon, the numbers of both were not reduced in the plots even where these plants had been cultivated initially. The soil extract from the pots, where preceding plants had been cultivated, did not affect the conidia of FOC and FOR. In both FOC and FOR experiments, the cultivation of preceding plants increased the number of bacteria in soil. Additionally, in the FOR experiment, preceding plants, turnip and spinach, increased the number of F. oxysporum (FOX) except for FOR and decreased the proportion of FOR to FOX. It was suggested that these preceding plants might affect the pathogens of Fusarium wilt indirectly by the changes in the numbers and flora of soil microorganisms.