Influence of nematicides on growth of plots of white clover on a yellow-brown loam

Abstract

Abstract Effects were measured of the soil fumigants methyl bromide, ‘Telone’, and ‘Fumazone’, with phosphate at 35 and 175 kg/ha, on populations of root-knot nematode (Meloidogyne hapla) and clover cyst nematode (Heterodera trifolii) in relation to the growth of ‘Grasslands Huia’ white clover (Trifolium repens L.). All fumigants reduced nematodes in the seedbed and reduced invasion of 27-day-old seedlings. Fumigant reduction of M. hapla knots persisted for longer than reduction of H. trifolii cysts. In the first 6 months after sowing clover, yield increases were shown in response to all three fumigants, but only methyl bromide increased yield in the final 10 months. Total yield increases over the control were ‘Telone’ 5.7%, ‘Fumazone’ 9.6%, methyl bromide 14.7%, and phosphate 4.9%.