IMPACT OF ORGANIC SOIL AMENDMENTS AND FUMIGATION ON PLANT-PARASITIC NEMATODES IN A SOUTHWEST FLORIDA VEGETABLE FIELD

The effects of composted amendments and soil fumigation with methyl br omide/chloropicrin on plant-parasitic nematodes were examined in a thr ee-year split-plot field experiment on tomato (Lycopersicon esculentum ) in southwest Florida. Composted amendments included municipal solid waste, yard waste, and/or biosolids. Population densities of Meloidogy ne incognita and root galling on tomato from this nematode were decrea sed (P less than or equal to 0.05) by soil fumigation, but increased ( P less than or equal to 0.10) in response to compost amendment, with m aximum levels in non-fumigated, compost-amended plots. Population dens ities of Criconemoides spp. and Hemicycliophora spp. were reduced by f umigation. Application of compost reduced population densities of Hemi cycliophora spp. but did not affect Criconemoides spp. Numbers of Para trichodorus minor were not affected by either treatment. Amendment wit h municipal solid waste compost was not an effective alternative to me thyl bromide fumigation for management of the root-knot nematode in th is site within the time-frame of the experiment.