| Abstract: | A crop rotation experiment was conducted on two adjacent tracts of land differing in long-term croppin history (30 year in tall fescue pasture or 3 year in sorghum-sudangrass hybrid (SSGH).. Short-term crops were 2 years in tobacco or low-endophyte (Acremonium coenophialum Morgan-Jones & Gams) tall fescue. Tobacco was grown on all plots in Year 3, and data relating mycorrhizal stunt disease of tobacco and populations of the stunt pathogen, Glomus macrocarpum Tul. & Tul., and of other members of the mycorrhizal fungal community, were taken. Disease incidence was highest with SSGH-tobacco and lowest with fescue-fescue, the other two combinations being intermediate. Mycorrhizal colonization was related to disease occurence. At the beginning of the season, populations of G. macrocarpum were equally high in land with a long-term history of SSGH, regardless of its short-term history; but at the end of the season, populations of G. macrocarpum among the four treatments were proportional to the incidence of disease. Populations of four mycorrhizal fungal species which were high in land with a short-term history of fescue were depressed by production of tobacco. Monocropping of tobacco appeared to narrow the diversity of the mycorrhizal fungal community and increased the proportion which is pathogenic, the overall result being lower productivity of soil for tobacco. Crop rotation of tobacco with fescue decreased the proportion of the mycorrhizal fungal community which is pathogenic and maintained productivity of soil for tobacco. |
