Hatem M. Younes, Summer R. A. Lockhart, Lynne Carpenter-Boggs
{"title":"Compost Teas Reduce Verticillium dahliae Growth In Vitro via Direct and Volatile Effects","authors":"Hatem M. Younes, Summer R. A. Lockhart, Lynne Carpenter-Boggs","doi":"10.1002/sae2.70067","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<p>Verticillium wilt of potatoes is caused by the fungus <i>Verticillium dahliae</i>, which leads to significant economic losses in potato production. The fungus is soil-borne and can remain for up to 14 years in the soil or previous crop residues as hard-to-suppress microsclerotia. Compost teas (CTs) have been shown to suppress a variety of pathogenic fungi in food crops and are a sustainable option for pathogen suppression and crop nutrient provision. CTs are prepared by extracting compost in water and allowing it to brew for a period of time. In this study, we used a factorial experiment of two composts with four combinations of additives and aeration time to prepare eight CTs. Each CT was used after 3, 6 and 10 days of brewing. We tested the direct and volatile effects of unsterilised and filter-sterilised CTs on the mycelial growth of <i>V. dahliae</i> in vitro. Unsterilised CTs inhibited <i>V. dahliae</i> growth by 90.1% via direct suppression and 71.7% via volatile suppression. Sterilised CTs inhibited <i>V. dahliae</i> growth by 79.3% via direct suppression and 26.6% via volatile suppression. CT efficacy was least at 3 days of brewing time and greatest at 6 days. Scanning electron microscopy revealed mycoparasitism by several fungal species on <i>V. dahliae</i>, indicating that mycoparasitism may be a source of CT efficacy as a biocontrol agent. This study demonstrates that, with further development, CTs have the potential to be a sustainable solution for suppressing verticillium wilt in potatoes.</p>","PeriodicalId":100834,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Sustainable Agriculture and Environment","volume":"4 2","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0000,"publicationDate":"2025-04-26","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1002/sae2.70067","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Journal of Sustainable Agriculture and Environment","FirstCategoryId":"1085","ListUrlMain":"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/sae2.70067","RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":null,"ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"","JCRName":"","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
Verticillium wilt of potatoes is caused by the fungus Verticillium dahliae, which leads to significant economic losses in potato production. The fungus is soil-borne and can remain for up to 14 years in the soil or previous crop residues as hard-to-suppress microsclerotia. Compost teas (CTs) have been shown to suppress a variety of pathogenic fungi in food crops and are a sustainable option for pathogen suppression and crop nutrient provision. CTs are prepared by extracting compost in water and allowing it to brew for a period of time. In this study, we used a factorial experiment of two composts with four combinations of additives and aeration time to prepare eight CTs. Each CT was used after 3, 6 and 10 days of brewing. We tested the direct and volatile effects of unsterilised and filter-sterilised CTs on the mycelial growth of V. dahliae in vitro. Unsterilised CTs inhibited V. dahliae growth by 90.1% via direct suppression and 71.7% via volatile suppression. Sterilised CTs inhibited V. dahliae growth by 79.3% via direct suppression and 26.6% via volatile suppression. CT efficacy was least at 3 days of brewing time and greatest at 6 days. Scanning electron microscopy revealed mycoparasitism by several fungal species on V. dahliae, indicating that mycoparasitism may be a source of CT efficacy as a biocontrol agent. This study demonstrates that, with further development, CTs have the potential to be a sustainable solution for suppressing verticillium wilt in potatoes.