Weiland, J. E. 2014. Pythium species and isolate diversity influence inhibition by the biological control agent Streptomyces lydicus. Plant Dis. 98:653-659. Disease control of soilborne pathogens by biological control agents (BCAs) is often inconsistent under field conditions. This inconsistency may be partly influenced by pathogen diversity if there is a differential response among pathogen sp...

Biological control of soilborne plant pathogens using beneficial fungi, such as the mycoparasite Trichoderma harzianum, offers the prospect of environmentally benign pest control. However, biocontrol organisms have their own natural enemies; for example the fungivorous nematode Aphelenchoides saprophilus preys on T. harzianum. A trophic cascade occurs when three or more trophic levels are prese...

Numerous microbes are antagonistic to plant-parasitic nematodes and soilborne plant-pathogenic fungi, but few of these organisms are commercially available for management of these pathogens. Inconsistent performance of applied biocontrol agents has proven to be a primary obstacle to the development of successful commercial products. One of the strategies for overcoming inconsistent performance ...

Stand problems consistently cause significant production losses and management problems in Arkansas rice fields. Previous research, funded by the Rice Research and Promotion Board, identified the role of environmental factors and soilborne plant pathogens in limiting rice stand establishment, and had the goal of determining the conditions where soilborne pathogens, especially Pythium species, p...

The efficacy of fallow and coastal bermudagrass (Cynodon dactylon) as a rotation crop for control of root-knot nematode (Meloidogyne incognita race 1) and soilborne fungi in okra (Hibiscus esculentus cv. Emerald), squash (Cucurbita pepo cv. Dixie Hybrid), and sweet corn (Zea mays cv. Merit) was evaluated in a 3-year field trial. Numbers of M. incognita in the soil and root-gall indices were gre...

Bacillus subtilis is a nonpathogenic bacterium that lives in soil and has long been used as biological control agent in agriculture. Here, we report the genome sequence of a B. subtilis strain isolated from rhizosphere of onion that shows strong biological activity against the soilborne fungal pathogen Setophoma terrestris.

The soil nourishing the crops that provide our food and fiber is a complex environment where microbes live in numbers estimated to reach 2 billion per ounce of soil. Millions upon millions of individual bacteria and fungi Uve on root surfaces and the soil particles that surround them. Bacteria are the smallest and the most abundant. The fungi, usually larger than bacteria, are found throughout ...

BACKGROUND Composting is one of the most environmentally friendly treatments to inactivate pathogenic organisms or reduce them to acceptable levels. However, even under thermal conditions, some pathogenic organisms such as E. coli could exist for a long time in composting. Such great persistence may increase the possibility of outbreaks of these organisms and further increase the environmental ...