Suppression of Rhizoctonia solani in potato fields. 1. Occurrence

A search was made forRhizoctonia solani-suppressive soils by establishing many small experimental plots, half of which were planted withRhizoctonia-infected seed potatoes and the other half with disinfected seed stock. The sclerotium index of the harvested tubers was compared witht that of the seed potatoes. In suppressive soils, the sclerotium index of the harvest is much lower than that of the seed potatoes. None of the plots on holocene marine soils (loamy sand, sandy loam, clay loam and clay) proved to be suppressive in 1978 and 1979. Only on pleistocene, slightly acid sandy soil suppressiveness was observed. In 1978, four out of twelve plots showed suppressiveness when the plots were planted with seed potatoes produced on a sandy soil. In 1979, only two out of thirtyone plots were slightly suppressive when planted with seed potatoes produced on a young clay loam from a new polder. A higher percentage of sclerotia on tubers from sandy soils proved to be infected with antagonistic fungi (73%) than of those on tubers from marine clay or loam soils (25%). Factors that influence suppressiveness are suggested.