Impact of intercropping on epidemics of groundnut leaf spots: defining constraints and opportunities through a 7‐year field study

Plant diversity can have a profound impact on disease dynamics, with important applications for enhancing sustainability. Disease is often reduced by intercropping, but variability can be high. This study investigated integration of several management approaches to stabilize this variability for early leaf spot (ELS) and late leaf spot (LLS) of groundnut, over seven seasons in three phases. In phase 1, monocrops and alternating row and strip intercrops with maize were artificially inoculated with ELS in an area with little groundnut production. Reductions in AUDPC of 37–73% in strip treatments compared to monocrops prompted testing of the efficacy of intercropping in intensive production areas for phases 2 and 3. Additional treatments included cotton strip intercrops, and integration of intercropping with reduced fungicide treatments and partial resistance to leaf spots. In phase 2, the use of cotton strip intercrops lowered natural ELS epidemics by 25–41% (AUDPC) through delayed disease onset, but maize had inconsistent effects. Intercropping was not effective against LLS, which dominated in phase 3. Reduced fungicide regimes and partial resistance lowered disease, and in one case interacted with intercropping to enhance disease suppression. Groundnut yields generally were inversely proportional to disease levels and not significantly reduced by intercropping. Separate studies to determine maize impacts on ELS infection implicated disruption of dispersal as the mechanism of disease reduction. This work demonstrates that intercropping may be most effective where low levels of ELS are present, using strip patterns with cotton, and combined with other tools such as resistance and reduced fungicide application.     

Effect of soil amendments, intercropping and planting time in combination on the severity of cassava bacterial blight and yield in two ecozones of West Africa

The severity of cassava bacterial blight at two sites in the forest-savanna transition (FST) and dry savanna (DS) zones of West Africa were studied by assessing the effects of: (i) shift of planting date; (ii) potassium fertilizer application and mulching; (iii) intercropping cassava with sorghum or cowpea vs. cassava monoculture; and (iv) the combination of these measures. Disease severity of bacterial blight in two genotypes was generally reduced by 20–60% by late planting, without a negative effect on cassava root yield, in monocropping systems in most treatments in the FST zone (reduction in four treatments, and increase in two treatments, out of 19) and the DS zone (two of eight treatments in 1 year). Late planting led to crop failure in the DS zone in the second year. Intercropping cassava with sorghum reduced bacterial blight severity significantly, up to 80% at normal (all treatments) and late planting time (three out of six treatments) in the FST zone, and in some treatments (four out of seven) at normal planting in the DS zone. Intercropping of cassava with cowpea in the DS zone also reduced disease severity. Cassava-sorghum intercropping generally had no effect on root yield compared with cassava monocropping at both planting times in the FST zone and provided an additional harvest of the intercrop, while yield was affected by intercropping in the DS zone at late, and in some treatments (three out of seven) at normal, planting time. Mulching and potassium treatment had no effect on disease severity, but increased or decreased root yield in some treatments in both sites. Analysis of combined data showed that cropping system, year, site, and site combined with planting date were the highest significant determinants of variation in bacterial blight development.     

Studies on dispersal of Septoria tritici pycnidiospores in wheat–clover intercrops

Four experiments studied the effects of a clover understorey on pycnidiospore dispersal of Septoria tritici in a wheat–clover intercrop under simulated rain. Clover significantly reduced the dispersal of spores in a horizontal direction by 33% at a distance of 15 cm from a line inoculum source compared with a wheat monocrop. The clover also reduced the vertical movement of spores from infected leaves at the base of wheat plants by an average of 63% compared to the monocrop, and this suggests that the main movement of spores was from the base upwards. Splash experiments using blue colour marker showed the vertical decline of splash and the number of drops per cm² with height caught on paper adjacent to trays of clover was described by the exponential decline model. The effect of clover in reducing vertical splash approached an asymptote as the leaf area index of the understorey increased. Simulated rain-splash increased the level of disease on the flag leaf and, in one experiment, there was a significant interaction between rain-splash and clover in reducing the number of lesions on the flag leaf. The level of disease resulting from one splash event was low, indicating that subsequent pathogen multiplication is probably required to bring about high severities of disease.     

麦田间作对麦长管蚜的生态调控作用

[目的]探讨麦田间作对麦长管蚜种群的生态调控作用。[方法]田间调查小麦单作田、小麦与绿豆、小麦与豌豆以8:2行距间作田麦长管蚜种群数量及其时间动态变化;室内利用"Y"型嗅觉仪测定麦长管蚜对小麦、小麦与绿豆、小麦与豌豆不同组合气味的选择性。[结果]麦田间作不能影响麦蚜种群随时间动态变化曲线,但能在一定程度上降低麦长管蚜无翅蚜和有翅蚜的数量。室内麦长管蚜无翅蚜和有翅蚜显著选择寄主植物的气味。当小麦与绿豆或小麦与豌豆组合时对麦长管蚜没有吸引作用。[结论]非寄主植物的气味对寄主植物气味起掩盖作用,干扰蚜虫的寄主定位,这可能是间作低于单作蚜量的原因之一。     

Effect of pea canopy architecture on splash dispersal of Mycosphaerella pinodes conidia

To investigate the hypothesis that disrupting pathogen movement within the plant canopy could slow the development of aschochyta blight, the effect of pea canopy architecture on splash dispersal of Mycosphaerella pinodes‐conidia was studied in controlled conditions using a rainfall simulator generating rain events (2 mm) in still air. In intra‐plant dispersal experiments, a source constituted by a semi‐leafless pea plant with a single infectious lesion (108 pycnidia per cm² of lesion, 1685 conidia per pycnidium) was placed in the middle of eight healthy target plants. Spore deposition was estimated by the number of lesions that developed on each stipule of the source (auto‐deposition) and target (allo‐deposition) plants after incubation. Rates of deposition on the source and target plants were 0·53 and 0·47, respectively. On the source plant, most of the spores were splashed downwards, with few spores remaining at the infectious node and very few spores moving upwards. In inter‐plant dispersal experiments, potted plants were grouped to constitute 1‐m² canopies. A range of canopy architectures was achieved by using different plant densities and growth stages. A suspension of conidia was placed in the centre of each canopy. Resulting horizontal dispersal gradients were generally described by a negative exponential model. Canopies with a leaf area index (LAI) greater than 0·48 produced gradients with slopes that were not significantly different. A less dense canopy (LAI 0·36) produced a significantly steeper slope. Half‐distances were short and ranged between 1·6 and 6·5 cm. The barrier rate, calculated as the ratio of the mean number of lesions assessed on isolated plants to the mean number of lesions assessed on plants in canopies, increased with increasing canopy LAI.     

Effects of strip intercropping of potatoes with non‐hosts on late blight severity and tuber yield in organic production

The effects of strip cropping of potatoes with cereals or a grass‐clover mix in and perpendicular to the main wind direction on foliar late blight severity and tuber yield were studied in large‐scale field experiments in Germany. Disease progress was assessed in 12–18 sections per plot and yields determined from the same sections. In 2000, plot size was 3 × 10 m and there were no disease reductions apparently due to interplot interference. In 2001 and 2002, with plot sizes of 6 × 18 and 6 × 36 m in strip‐cropped potatoes, disease was significantly reduced by 9–20% and 4–12%, respectively, compared to pure stands of potato, with the greatest reductions in plots planted perpendicular to the wind and neighboured by grass‐clover. The most important factors contributing to disease reduction were loss of inoculum outside of the plots and barrier effects of neighbouring non‐potato hosts. Only 0–20% of the overall yield variation could be explained by the area under the disease progress curve, depending on cultivar and year. In one year disease effects on the yield of a moderately resistant cultivar were higher than on the yield of a susceptible cultivar. This was probably caused by differences in bulking behaviour. Nutrient limitation appeared to be more important than disease in reducing yields. Yields in the edge potato rows directly neighboured by cereals were significantly reduced in all 3 years, but competition by cereals did not change the disease–yield‐loss relationship. Strip intercropping might be a useful component in an overall management strategy to reduce incoming late blight inoculum.     

Effects of a Cover Crop on Splash Dispersal of Colletotrichum acutatum Conidia

ABSTRACT A rain simulator, with generated rains of 11 and 30 mm/h, was used to determine the effect of a cover crop or intercrop on the splash dispersal of Colletotrichum acutatum conidia. Dispersal through sudangrass, which can be used as a 'living mulch', was tested at two planting densities (140 or 280 kg/ha) and two heights (5 and 20 cm) and compared with a control consisting of a bare soil. Dispersal of C. acutatum conidia was assessed by counting colonies formed from spore-bearing splash droplets deposited in sheltered petri plates containing a selective medium. Both a cover crop and rain intensity significantly affected splash dispersal as measured by the interpolated total number of colonies (denoted by Sigma) from 0 to 72 cm from the inoculum source and in a time span of 61 min of generated rain (P < 0.001). However, there was no significant interaction of cover crop and intensity (P > 0.90). Dispersal with a 30-mm/h rain was higher than dispersal with a 11-mm/h rain, and presence of a cover crop significantly reduced dispersal compared with bare soil (P < 0.001). Of the treatments with sudangrass, cover crop planting density did not affect dispersal overall, but there was greater spore dispersal with the taller sudangrass at the higher planting density, due in part to the higher rate of water splashing with the tall grass compared with the short grass. Spore deposition in the petri plates could be functionally related to distance and time using a diffusion-type model, and parameter estimates could be used to explain the effects of cover crop on Sigma. Although the relationship between cover crop properties and splash dispersal is complex, results show the potential beneficial effects of the cover crop on disease management.     

Using crop canopy modification to manage plant diseases

Modifying crop canopies can suppress plant diseases in some crops. For example, in carrot, lateral trimming of the canopy by 30–40 % after canopy closure reduced sclerotinia rot (Sclerotinia sclerotiorum) to zero under moderate disease pressure without the use of fungicides. Trimming reduced relative humidity within the carrot canopy and increased air and soil temperature, inhibiting the formation of apothecia of S. sclerotiorum. Trimming also severed infected petioles, which reduced the opportunity for infection to progress to the carrot crown. Trimming combined with application of foliar fungicide was even more effective. Trimming reduced carrot leaf blights (Alternaria dauci, Cercospora carotae) in 1 of 3 years, when disease pressure was low. However, there was no advantage of combining trimming and fungicide sprays for leaf blight control. Canopy modification also reduces disease in legume crops. Soybean cultivars with reduced height and lodging, and early maturity, had up to a 74 % reduction in apothecia of S. sclerotiorum within the crop, and up to an 88 % reduction in disease incidence at harvest. In field pea, artificially supporting plants to reduce lodging, in combination with fungicide application, reduced the severity of mycosphaerella blight (Mycosphaerella pinodes) on pods by 67 % and increased seed yield by 54 %. In chickpea, paired-row planting that opened the canopy increased seed yield by 12 %, likely by increasing fungicide deposition. Modifications of the crop canopy can reduce disease, the need for fungicide sprays, and sometimes improve fungicide efficacy, but the results are often pathosystem-specific.     

Weed interference in maize, cowpea and maize/cowpea intercrop in a subhumid tropical environment. I. Influence of cropping season

Field experiments were conducted in the early and late cropping seasons of 1979 on a loamysand Oxic Ustropept in a subhumid environment in Nigeria, using 40000, 50000 and 30000 + 40000 plants ha^?1 of maize (Zea mays L. cv. TZB), cowpea (Vigna unguiculata (L.) Walp. cv. VITA-5) and maize/cowpea intercrop respectively. These indicated that weed interference effects on crops under no-tillage depended on cropping season, cropping pattern and crop species. In the early and late seasons respectively, thirty-five and twenty-nine different weed species were recorded and weed dry weights of approximately 10·4 and 5·7 t ha^?1 from the plots kept weedy throughout the season reduced corresponding food energy yields by 60 and 82%. Except for the intercrop, which in the early season showed significant yield reduction when exposed to 4 weeks’ weed interference after sowing, all cropping patterns needed more than 4 weeks’ interference to show significant yield reductions, regardless of cropping season. In the early season, weed interference accounted more for the yield reductions in monocultures than it did for those in the intercrop, but in the late season all cropping patterns were equally sensitive to weed association. Maize, which performed much better in the early season, showed greater yield reductions than cowpea under early weed interference but less under full-season interference irrespective of cropping pattern and season. Cowpea seed quality was more reduced by intercropping than by weed interference in the early season but neither of these factors affected seed quality significantly in the late season.     

The effects of intercropping with cereals and minimal permethrin applications on insect pests of cowpea and their natural enemies in Nigeria

Abstract

Major insect pests and their natural enemies were sampled on cowpea in monocrop and cereal intercrop plots in southern and northern Nigeria. Populations of flower thrips, Megalurothrips sjostedti (Trybom), were reduced by 42% and predators, mostly Orius spp. (Anthocoridae), by 23% on cowpea in maize intercrop plots at Ofiki in the south. Infestation by pyralid pod borer, Maruca testulalis Geyer, was unaffected by cropping system. The results suggest that tasselling maize attracts flower‐eating beetles (Meloidae) to intercrop plots, and that pod‐sucking Hemiptera were increased by cereal intercrops at Yankara in the north. Three u.l.v. applications of permethrin at 150 g a.i./ha to monocrop cowpea reduced pest populations by 50 to 85% in the south and increased yield sevenfold. However, the sprayed crop in the north was lost due to a heavy infestation of pod‐sucking bug, Clavigralla tomentosicollis Stål, and outbreaks of Aphis craccivora Koch on sprayed plots in both localities suggested damage to natural enemies. It is concluded that the pest management potential of intercropping is variable and dependent on environmental factors, but it is recommended that intercropping be used in integrated pest management systems with the progressive decrease in insecticide use.     

Maize–soybean intercropping effect on yield productivity,weed control and diversity in northern Ghana

The cereal–legume cropping system is a common practice across the tropical world. However, there are limited quantitative data on the effect of cereal–legume intercropping on weed species diversity. A study was conducted in the Guinea savanna zone of Ghana to evaluate the effect of maize–soybean intercropping on yield productivity and weed species control. The treatments used include three maize maturity types (extra‐early: Abontem, early: Sammaz 27 and medium: Obatanpa) intercropped with soybean at three intraspacing (10, 20 and 30 cm), and their sole crop treatments were laid in a randomized complete block design with three replications. Results showed that the land equivalent ratio (LER) for the intercrops was above 1, indicating better intercrop productivity than the sole crops. An average of 40% land was saved for the intercrops compared with the sole crops. Intercropping Sammaz 27 maize with soybean significantly increased LER by 9% compared to the other types. Intercropping maize with soybean significantly reduced weed biomass at 6 and 9 weeks after planting (WAP) and at harvest relative to the sole maize. The weed biomass at 6 and 9 WAP and harvest increased (p < .05) with increasing soybean intraspacing. The grass and broadleaf weed species count at 6 WAP and harvest from the sole crops were significantly higher than that of the intercrops. The results suggest that intercropping early maize maturity type with soybean at 10 cm intraspacing could be used to increase grain yield, LER and control of grass and broadleaf weeds in a maize‐based cropping system in the Guinea savanna zones of West Africa.     

棉苜间作棉田天敌群落结构与动态及其对棉蚜的控制效应

采取不同的棉苜间作方式,研究了棉苜间作棉田天敌群落结构及种群动态规律、棉蚜与天敌的消长动态,以及棉苜间作对棉田蚜虫的控制效应。与常规单种棉田相比,间作苜蓿棉田内的瓢虫、蜘蛛、草蛉种群数量大幅度增长,尤以每隔1膜间作75cm苜蓿带处理区为甚,分别增长了318.0%、120.9%和79.6%。间作或邻作苜蓿的棉田天敌群落的物种丰富度、丰富度指数及多样性指数均高于常规单种棉田,表明间作和邻作苜蓿带并适时刈割,可以提高棉田内天敌群落的丰富度和多样性。刈割苜蓿带对棉田棉蚜及瓢虫类、蜘蛛类和草蛉类天敌的数量动态影响较大。在棉蚜上升初期刈割苜蓿带,使棉田内瓢虫类、蜘蛛类和草蛉类天敌数量急剧上升,棉蚜数量大幅下降,从而有效地控制了棉田棉蚜的暴发。     

干旱胁迫对豌豆根系形态及产量的影响

采用盆栽方法,研究了55%的土壤相对含水量在分枝期、孕蕾期、花荚期进行15 d历时的干旱胁迫对豌豆干物质累积、根系生长及产量的影响。结果表明,与全生育期正常供水(75%)相比,三种干旱胁迫处理均降低了豌豆的干物质累积量,胁迫时期越早,复水对豌豆地上部干物质累积的补偿效果越好,分枝期干旱胁迫在成熟期达到了等量补偿;干旱胁迫均显著抑制了根系的生长,分枝期干旱胁迫对根系生长的抑制具有滞后效应,胁迫结束时与对照间差异不显著,在花荚盛期显著低于对照,孕蕾期干旱胁迫根系的复水补偿生长作用较好,各根系形态指标在成熟期均达到了超越补偿;三种胁迫方式均抑制了根瘤的形成及其生长,且复水后均产生了不足补偿,胁迫时期越早,补偿效果越差;花荚初期干旱胁迫对豌豆产量的抑制作用最大,比对照低20.41%,其次为孕蕾期,比对照低6.63%,分枝期干旱胁迫不影响子粒产量。     

Temporal Progression of Bean Common Bacterial Blight (Xanthomonas Campestris pv. phaseoli) in Sole and Intercropping Systems

The effects of four planting patterns of bean (Phaseolus vulgaris) (bean only, maize–bean (MB), sorghum–bean (SB), and maize–bean–sorghum (MBS)) and four cropping systems (sole cropping, row, mixed, and broadcast intercropping) on the temporal epidemics of bean common bacterial blight (CBB) caused by Xanthomonas campestris pv. phaseoli were studied. The experiments were conducted during two consecutive spring and summer seasons in 1999 and 2000 in replicated field experiments. The Gompertz model described disease progress curves better than the logistic model. Intercropping delayed epidemic onset, lowered disease incidence and severity, and reduced the disease progress rate. The type of cropping system and planting pattern affected CBB incidence and severity at initial, final and overall assessments and also affected the rate of disease development. Statistical significance of treatment interactions based on disease assessments was found for incidence in all four experiments and for severity in three experiments. A slower disease progress rate and lower incidence and severity occurred on beans planted with maize or sorghum in row, mixed and broadcast intercropping than on bean planted alone. Incidence was reduced 36% and severity 20% in intercropping compared to sole cropping. The built-in disease delay and the slowing of the disease progress rate could provide protection for beans from severe CBB epidemics in intercropped systems. Variation between years appeared to be related to relative humidity (RH).     

Effect of pea canopy architecture on microclimate and consequences on ascochyta blight infection under field conditions

In order to investigate the impact of pea canopy architecture and development on microclimate and infection by Mycosphaerella pinodes, two field experiments were conducted in 2009 and 2010 at Le Rheu (France) to obtain canopies contrasted in height, closure dynamic, leaf area index (LAI) and leaf area density (LAD). Three pea cultivars (Athos, Antares, Gregor) were sown at two (80 and 40 seeds/m² in 2009) and three densities (80, 40 and 30 seeds/m² in 2010) and microclimatic sensors were located inside the canopy (at the bottom and in the middle) and outside. Two main sources of wetness were identified: rainfall and dew. During rainfall periods, average daily leaf wetness duration (LWD) was about 15 h, and 3 to 10 h longer inside than outside the canopies. LWD was positively correlated with LAI until canopy closure during these periods. During dry periods when dew was the only source of leaf wetness, average daily LWD was short, decreasing as the canopy developed. Shorter LWDs were observed at the base than at the mid-level of the canopies and longer LWDs were observed outside the canopy and inside the less dense canopies irrespective of the cultivar. LWD was negatively correlated with canopy height and LAI during these periods. Slow wind speeds were recorded inside the canopies (less than 0.5 km/h) and no significant canopy effect was observed on air temperature. An infection model was developed and showed that only rainfall periods which induced long LWDs inside the canopy, were favourable to M. pinodes infection under our climatic conditions and suggested a more favourable microclimate inside dense canopies.     

低氮环境下燕麦与箭豌豆间混作与刈割时间对饲草产量及质量特性的影响

对北京市延庆县旱作低N土壤环境下燕麦与箭豌豆间混播6种方式与比例对饲草产量与质量特性影响进行了研究。结果表明,在低N环境下,与燕麦单作相比,箭豌豆与燕麦间混播不仅可增加饲草中干物质产量,饲草N产量也可增加30%~130%;而且燕麦与箭豌豆间混作对饲草质量也有显著影响(P<0.01)。间混作能够降低饲草中ADF与NDF含量,提高燕麦开花后饲草RFV值。4种间混作处理在饲草产量与饲草品质方面各有优点,也各有不足。在低N环境下,如果以饲草产量和饲草N产量为主要追求目标,则燕麦与箭豌豆1∶1邻行间作方式为最佳播种模式,其次依次分别是燕麦与箭豌豆1∶1同行混播、燕麦与箭豌豆1∶2同行混播、燕麦与箭豌豆2∶1同行混播。燕麦与箭豌豆间混播最佳刈割期为燕麦乳熟期 箭豌豆满荚期,因为此时混合饲草产量最高,饲草N产量与RFV较高,而ADF与NDF较低。     

根际分隔对玉米/豌豆间作种间竞争及豌豆结瘤固氮的影响

通过盆栽试验研究了玉米/豌豆间作条件下,两种施氮水平(0、0.15 g·kg~(-1))及三种分隔方式(不分隔、塑料膜分隔、尼龙网分隔)对玉米、豌豆生长及豌豆结瘤固氮的影响。结果表明:与单作相比,玉米/豌豆间作后对玉米的生长和养分的吸收有显著的促进作用,在整个生育期,玉米生物量的增加量随着豌豆生育期的推进而增加,豌豆苗期、豌豆结荚初期、豌豆收获期玉米的生物量在不施氮肥条件下分别增加:28.5%、32.8%、48.7%;在施氮0.15 g·kg~(-1)时分别增加-8.6%、8.1%、63.2%。在玉米豌豆间作体系中三种分隔方式玉米生物量的大小顺序为:间作不分隔间作尼龙网隔间作塑料膜分隔单作;在不施氮肥时,间作后豌豆苗期生物量与单作相比增加显著,增加幅度达35.8%;随着玉米生育期的推进,间作豌豆的生物量增加幅度随着降低,到豌豆收获期与单作豌豆相比差异不显著。收获时三种分隔方式豌豆生物量的大小顺序为:间作塑料膜分隔间作不分隔间作尼龙网隔单作;在施氮肥时,随着玉米的生长间作豌豆与单作豌豆相比显著减产,收获时三种分隔方式对豌豆生物量的大小顺序为:间作尼龙网隔间作塑料膜分隔单作间作不分隔。与单作相比,间作提高了豌豆的结瘤数;间作不分隔、间作尼龙网隔、间作塑料膜分隔条件下,碗豆的结瘤数分别增加120%、82.5%、22.5%。     

Effects of Soil Fumigation and Flooding on Suppression of Pythium Root Rot in Ornamental Bulb Culture

The effects of flooding and soil fumigation with cis-dichloropropene or methylisothiocyanate (MIT) on disease suppression against Pythium spp. were tested in pot and field experiments in sandy soil. Disease suppression was reduced by both flooding and fumigation treatments, resulting in severe infection in Iris and Crocus and reduction of bulb yields. It is demonstrated that the disease suppression has a biological nature, and that disease severity is more related to effects of the soil treatments on the soil microflora than to the initial inoculum density of Pythium. After flooding, disease suppression was restored within the experimental period of two years, whereas after fumigation, disease suppression was only partially restored. The effect of repeated fumigation in two consecutive years on the disease suppression was less severe than the effect of a single fumigation treatment prior to cultivation of a susceptible crop.     

Suppression of sclerotinia stem rot of soybean by lactofen herbicide treatment

ABSTRACT Severity of Sclerotinia stem rot of soybean after treatment with lactofen (Cobra) and other herbicides was assessed in field experiments conducted in Michigan from 1995 to 1997. At sites where disease pressure was high, disease severity was reduced 40 to 60% compared with controls when lactofen was applied at the V3 (1995 and 1996) or R1 (1997) growth stages. Corresponding seed yields were unchanged or up to 20% greater when lactofen was applied at the R1 stage in 1997. Disease severity was not reduced by lactofen treatments in years and at sites where disease pressure was low to medium, and corresponding yields often were reduced by 10%. High levels of glyceollin accumulated in lactofen-injured leaves collected from field plots in 1996 and 1997. High glyceollin content in lactofen-treated leaves was associated with significant reductions in lesion size when leaves were challenge-inoculated with Sclerotinia sclerotiorum.     

Effects of intercropping and soil amendment with urea and calcium oxide on the incidence of bacterial wilt of tomato and survival of soil-borne Pseudomonas solanacearum in Taiwan

Intercropping and soil amendment experiments were conducted to determine if they reduced populations of Pseudomonas solanacearum and bacterial wilt of tomato at the Asian Vegetable Research and Development Center (AVRDC) and at three other locations in Taiwan. At AVRDC, intercropping tomato with cowpea planted within the row significantly reduced bacterial wilt ( P  < 0.05) compared to when tomato was cropped alone. The P. solanacearum population in soil was not affected by intercropping with cowpea, soybean, or Welsh onion. At the same site, however, a preplanting soil amendment consisting of urea (200 kg ha⁻¹ N) and CaO (5000 kg ha⁻¹) significantly reduced the pathogen population and tomato bacterial wilt ( P  < 0.001). The effect of the soil amendment was not consistent when applied to soil from three other sites in Taiwan; in soil from two sites no reduction of the pathogen population occurred. At these sites, tomato bacterial wilt in the field was not reduced significantly after amending. In comparison with a non-amended control, the addition of only CaO reduced the P. solanacearum population in AVRDC soil significantly ( P  < 0.05), but the reduction was significantly greater when the complete soil amendment was added. In contrast, urea alone did not affect the survival of P. solanacearum in the soil. In a greenhouse experiment with AVRDC soil, P. solanacearum was undetectable 2 weeks after soil amendment, but in the same treatment tomato yield was significantly reduced by 48% ( P  < 0.05) compared with non-amended treatments. The suppressive effect of the soil amendment on the P. solanacearum population was probably due to the generation of one or several toxic substances during the transformation of urea in the presence of CaO.