Relation between Soil Health, Wave-like Fluctuations in Microbial Populations, and Soil-borne Plant Disease Management |
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Authors: | Ariena H C van Bruggen Alexander M Semenov Anne D van Diepeningen Oscar J de Vos Wim J Blok |
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Institution: | (1) Biological Farming Systems, Wageningen University, Marijkeweg 22, 6709, PG, Wageningen, the Netherlands;(2) Department of Microbiology, Biological Faculty, Moscow State University, 119899 Moscow, Russia |
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Abstract: | A healthy soil is often defined as a stable soil system with high levels of biological diversity and activity, internal nutrient
cycling, and resilience to disturbance. This implies that microbial fluctuations after a disturbance would dampen more quickly
in a healthy than in a chronically damaged and biologically impoverished soil. Soil could be disturbed by various processes,
for example addition of a nutrient source, tillage, or drying-rewetting. As a result of any disturbance, the numbers of heterotrophic
bacteria and of individual species start to oscillate, both in time and space. The oscillations appear as moving waves along
the path of a moving nutrient source such as a root tip. The phase and period for different trophic groups and species of
bacteria may be shifted indicating that succession occurs. DGGE, Biolog and FAME analysis of subsequent populations in oscillation
have confirmed that there is a cyclic succession in microbial communities. Microbial diversity oscillates in opposite direction
from oscillations in microbial populations. In a healthy soil, the amplitudes of these oscillations will be small, but the
background levels of microbial diversity and activity are high, so that soil-borne diseases will face more competitors and
antagonists. However, soil-borne pathogens and antagonists alike will fluctuate in time and space as a result of growing plant
roots and other disturbances, and the periods and phases of the oscillations may vary. As a consequence, biological control
by members of a single trophic group or species may never be complete, as pathogens will encounter varying populations of
the biocontrol agent on the root surface. A mixture of different trophic groups may provide more complete biological control
because peaks of different trophic groups occur at subsequent locations along a root. Alternatively, regular addition of soil
organic matter may increase background levels of microbial activity, increase nutrient cycling, lower the concentrations of
easily available nutrient sources, increase microbial diversity, and enhance natural disease suppression. |
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Keywords: | biological control disease management harmonic fluctuations resilience soil health soil-borne pathogens |
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