CEREAL CYST-NEMATODE EFFECTS ON WHEAT WATER-USE, AND ON ROOT AND SHOOT GROWTH

Citation
J. Amir et Tr. Sinclair, CEREAL CYST-NEMATODE EFFECTS ON WHEAT WATER-USE, AND ON ROOT AND SHOOT GROWTH, Field crops research, 47(1), 1996, pp. 13-19
Citations number
21
Categorie Soggetti
Agriculture
Journal title
ISSN journal
03784290
Volume
47
Issue
1
Year of publication
1996
Pages
13 - 19
Database
ISI
SICI code
0378-4290(1996)47:1<13:CCEOWW>2.0.ZU;2-4
Abstract
Wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) is grown in many arid regions using fallo w management whereby no crop is grown in alternate cropping seasons. A lthough fallowing is important in increasing the availability of water and nitrogen to crops in many environments, experiments in Israel rev ealed that water carryover from the fallow season for wheat production was rare. This paper examines the possibility that improved water use , and improved root and shoot growth, result from soil sanitation of c ereal cyst nematode (CCN, Heterodera avenae Well.) in the fallow seaso n. Pot experiments in controlled environments revealed a dramatic, neg ative effect of various populations of CCN on wheat root growth. The d ecrease in root growth was associated with decreased shoot growth and decreased rates of transpiration. Mechanical pruning of roots mimicked the effects of CCN infestation indicating that root pruning is probab ly the primary damage of CCN. In the field, dry weight yields of wheat were maintained even in continuous wheat management when a soil bioci de was used to control CCN. It is proposed that the success of the fal low management is based on the fact that CCN cysts hatch in wet soil d uring rainy periods of the fallow year but fail to produce a new gener ation of cysts because no host plants are present.