The Mycoflora of a Continuously Cropped Soil in Israel, With Special Reference to Effects of Manuring and Fertilizing

Abstract

Studies of mycoflora composition of soils, cropped continuously over long periods, have so far been carried out chiefly in temperate climates. The present paper deals with such a study under the semiarid conditions of Israel's central coastal plain where October to May rainfall averages about 500 mm and the summer months are rainless. Special opportunities for such work presented themselves in the fields of the Soil Research Institute at Mikve Israel where crop rotation trials have been in progress uninterruptedly for 30-40 years. Moreover, the differential manure and fertilizer treatments tested in these trials permitted me to assess the effects of such treatments on the quantitative and qualitative composition of the mycoflora. An investigation of this kind on fields of a 5-year crop rotation trial carried out since 1923 on heavy soil without irrigation is reported here.