Effect of certain herbicides on soil microbial populations and their influence on saprophytic growth in soil and pathogenicity of take-all fungus

Summary The application of diquat + paraquat, glyphosate and trifluralin to unsterilized field soil increased take-all caused by the fungus, Gaeumannomyces graminis var. tritici Walker by 13.0% 16.6% and 10.8% respectively, while no effect on disease was recorded in sterilized soil treated with the same herbicides. The herbicides tested had no effect on the saprophytic growth of the pathogen with the exception of glyphosate, which increased its growth in unsterilized soil. The application of diquat + paraquat and glyphosate to unsterile soil had no effect on the numbers of actinomycetes. The diquat + paraquat treatment, however, increased populations of fungi while the glyphosate decreased the numbers of bacteria. The proportion of soil fungi antagonistic to the pathogen was reduced in glyphosate-treated soil. The frequency of occurrence of Eupenicillium euglaucum (v. Beyma) Stolk & Samson (strain B), and Penicillium verruculosum Peyr. (strain B), which were strong and low level antagonists of Ggt on agar, were reduced in their occurrence in soil by 7.7% and 2.5% respectively, following glyphosate treatment. Moreover, the numbers of Aspergillus viridinutans Ducker & Thrower, which showed moderate antagonism to the pathogen, was decreased by 1.9% and 4.1% in diquat + paraquat and glyphosate treatments respectively. The proportion of antagonists rather than total numbers of fungi appears to be related to the treatment effect observed on the soil growth and pathogenicity of G. graminis var. tritici in our investigation. The increase in disease of wheat in certain herbicide-treated soils may be due to the shift in soil microbial populations away from those which are antagonistic to the pathogen.