Register      Login
Crop and Pasture Science Crop and Pasture Science Society
Plant sciences, sustainable farming systems and food quality
RESEARCH ARTICLE

Pre-cropping with canola decreased Pratylenchus thornei populations, arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi, and yield of wheat

K. J. Owen A B , T. G. Clewett A and J. P. Thompson A
+ Author Affiliations
- Author Affiliations

A Agri-Science Queensland, Department of Employment, Economic Development and Innovation, Leslie Research Centre, PO Box 2282, Toowoomba, Qld 4350, Australia.

B Corresponding author. Email: Kirsty.Owen@deedi.qld.gov.au

Crop and Pasture Science 61(5) 399-410 https://doi.org/10.1071/CP09345
Submitted: 2 December 2009  Accepted: 15 April 2010   Published: 12 May 2010

Abstract

Root-lesion nematode (Pratylenchus thornei) significantly reduces wheat yields in the northern Australian grain region. Canola is thought to have a ‘biofumigation’ potential to control nematodes; therefore, a field experiment was designed to compare canola with other winter crops or clean-fallow for reducing P. thornei population densities and improving growth of P. thornei-intolerant wheat (cv. Batavia) in the following year. Immediately after harvest of the first-year crops, populations of P. thornei were lowest following various canola cultivars or clean-fallow (1957–5200 P. thornei/kg dry soil) and were highest following susceptible wheat cultivars (31 033–41 294/kg dry soil). Unexpectedly, at planting of the second-year wheat crop, nematode populations were at more uniform lower levels (<5000/kg dry soil), irrespective of the previous season’s treatment, and remained that way during the growing season, which was quite dry. Growth and grain yield of the second-year wheat crop were poorest on plots previously planted with canola or left fallow due to poor colonisation with arbuscular mycorrhizal (AM) fungi, with the exception of canola cv. Karoo, which had high AM fungal colonisation and low wheat yields. There were significant regressions between growth and yield parameters of the second-year wheat and levels of AMF following the pre-crop treatments. Thus, canola appears to be a good crop for reducing P. thornei populations, but AM fungal-dependence of subsequent crops should be considered, particularly in the northern Australian grain region.

Additional keywords: brassicas, long-fallow disorder.


Acknowledgments

We thank Dr John Kirkegaard (CSIRO, Canberra) for advice on canola cultivars and 2-phenylethyl glucosinolate levels, Drs Alan McKay and Kathy Ophel-Keller (SARDI, South Australia) for DNA analysis, and Dennis Orange (Queensland Department of Environment and Resource Management) for soil moisture characteristic data. Soil analyses were conducted by the Analytical Chemistry Section, formerly from the Department of Natural Resources and Mines, Toowoomba, Queensland. We also thank Kerry Bell (Queensland Department of Employment, Economic Development and Innovation) for statistical analysis, and Mrs Michelle O’Reilly and Mr Tony Charles for technical assistance. This work was funded by the Grains Research and Development Corporation.


References


Al-Karaki G, McMichael B, Zak J (2004) Field response of wheat to arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi and drought stress. Mycorrhiza 14, 263–269.
Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar | PubMed | open url image1

Angus JF, Gardner PA, Kirkegaard JA, Desmarchelier JM (1994) Biofumigation: Isothiocyanates released from Brassica roots inhibit growth of the take-all fungus. Plant and Soil 162, 107–112.
Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar | CAS | open url image1

Beckmann GG , Thompson CH (1960) Soils and landuse in the Kurrawa Area, Darling Downs, Queensland. CSIRO Division of Soils, Soils and Land Use Series No. 37. Melbourne, VIC.

Berry DA (1987) Logarithmic transformations in ANOVA. Biometrics 43, 439–456.
Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar | CAS | PubMed | open url image1

Colwell JD (1963) The estimation of the phosphorus fertilizer requirements of wheat in southern New South Wales by soil analysis. Australian Journal of Experimental Agriculture and Animal Husbandry 3, 190–197.
Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar | CAS | open url image1

Colwell JD, Esdaile RJ (1968) The calibration, interpretation, and evaluation of tests for the phosphorus fertilizer requirements of wheat in northern New South Wales. Australian Journal of Soil Research 6, 105–120.
Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar | open url image1

Dalal RC, Chan KY (2001) Soil organic matter in rainfed cropping systems of the Australian cereal belt. Australian Journal of Soil Research 39, 435–464.
Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar | CAS | open url image1

Ellis JR, Larsen HJ, Boosalis MG (1985) Drought resistance of wheat plants inoculated with vesicular-arbuscular mycorrhizae. Plant and Soil 86, 369–378.
Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar | open url image1

Fortuner R (1977) Pratylenchus thornei. C.I.H. Description of Plant-parasitic Nematodes Set 7, No. 93. (Commonwealth Institute of Helminthology: St Albans, UK)

Giovannetti M, Mosse B (1980) An evaluation of techniques for measuring vesicular-arbuscular mycorrhizal infection of roots. New Phytologist 84, 489–500.
Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar | open url image1

Glazer I, Orion D (1983) Studies on anhydrobiosis of Pratylenchus thornei. Journal of Nematology 15, 333–338.
CAS | PubMed |
open url image1

Goh TB, Banerjee MR, Shihua T, Burton DL (1997) Vesicular arbuscular mycorrhizae-mediated uptake and soil translocation of P and Zn by wheat in a calcareous soil. Canadian Journal of Soil Science 77, 339–346.
CAS |
open url image1

Hinton HE (1968) Reversible suspension of metabolism and the origin of life. Proceedings of the Royal Society of London 171, 43–57.
Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar | CAS | PubMed | open url image1

Hocking R , Norton R , Good R (1999) Crop nutrition. In ‘Proceedings of the 10th International Rapeseed Congress’. (Eds N Wratten, PA Salisbury) pp. 15–23. (The Regional Institute Ltd: Canberra, ACT) www.regional.org.au/au/gcirc/index/references.htm

Hollaway GJ, Ophel-Keller KM, Taylor SP, Burns RA, McKay AC (2003) Effect of soil water content, sampling methods and sample storage on the quantification of root lesion nematodes (Pratylenchus spp.) by different methods. Australasian Plant Pathology 32, 73–79.
Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar | open url image1

Hollaway GJ, Taylor SP, Eastwood RF, Hunt C (2000) Effect of field crops on density of Pratylenchus in Southeastern Australia; Part 2: P. thornei. Supplement of the Journal of Nematology 32(4S), 600–608.
CAS |
open url image1

Isbell RF (1996) ‘The Australian soil classification.’ Rev. edn (CSIRO Publishing: Collingwood, Vic.)

Kirkegaard JA, Sarwar M (1999) Glucosinolate profiles of Australian canola (Brassica napus annua L.) and Indian mustard (Brassica juncea L.) cultivars: implications for biofumigation. Australian Journal of Agricultural Research 50, 315–324.
Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar | CAS | open url image1

Kirkegaard JA, Sarwar M, Wong PTW, Mead A, Howe G, Newell M (2000) Field studies on the biofumigation of take-all by Brassica break crops. Australian Journal of Agricultural Research 51, 445–456.
Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar | open url image1

Lindsay WL, Norvell WA (1978) Development of a DTPA soil test for zinc, iron, manganese and copper. Soil Science Society of America Journal 42, 421–428.
CAS |
open url image1

Mani A (1999) Survival of the root-lesion nematode Pratylenchus jordanensis Hashum in a fallow field after harvest of alfalfa. Nematology 1, 79–84. open url image1

Marschner H (1986) ‘Mineral nutrition of higher plants.’ (Academic Press: London)

Matthiessen JN, Kirkegaard JA (2006) Biofumigation and enhanced biodegradation: opportunity and challenge in soilborne pest and disease management. Critical Reviews in Plant Sciences 25, 235–265.
Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar | CAS | open url image1

Murray GM, Brennan JP (2009) Estimating disease losses to the Australian wheat industry. Australasian Plant Pathology 38, 558–570.
Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar | open url image1

National Land and Water Resources Audit (2001) Nutrient management in Australian Agriculture. In ‘Australian Agriculture Assessment 2001’. pp. 79–120. (National Land and Water Resources Audit: Turner, ACT)

Ophel-Keller K, McKay A, Hartley D, Herdina , Curran J (2008) Development of a routine DNA-based testing service for soilborne diseases in Australia. Australasian Plant Pathology 37, 243–253.
Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar | CAS | open url image1

Payne RW , Murray DA , Harding SA , Baird DB , Soutar DM (2007) ‘Genstat® for Windows.’ 10th edn (VSN International: Hemel Hemspstead, UK)

Perry RN (1997) Plant signals in nematode hatching and attraction. In ‘Cellular and molecular aspects of plant–nematode interactions’. (Eds C Fennoll, FMW Grundler, S Ohl) pp. 38–49. (Kluwer Academic Publishers: Dordrecht, The Netherlands)

Phillips JM, Hayman DS (1970) Improved procedures for clearing roots and staining parasitic and vesicular-arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi for rapid assessment of infection. Transactions of the British Mycological Society 55, 158–161.
Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar | open url image1

Potter MJ, Davies K, Rathjen AJ (1998) Suppressive impact of glucosinolates in Brassica vegetative tissues on root-lesion nematode Pratylenchus neglectus. Journal of Chemical Ecology 24, 67–80.
Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar | CAS | open url image1

Proctor JR, Marks CF (1974) The determination of normalizing transformations for nematode count data from soil samples and of efficient sampling schemes. Nematologica 20, 395–406. open url image1

Reen RA , Thompson JP (2009) A comparative study of methods for screening chickpea and wheat for resistance to root-lesion nematode Pratylenchus thornei. In ‘Proceedings of the 18th Australasian Plant Pathology Conference’. Newcastle, NSW. p. 196 (abstract). Available at: www.australasianplantpathologysociety.org.au/

Ryan MH (2001) The effect of Brassica crops on the level of mycorrhizal inoculum in soil. In ‘Proceedings of the 10th Australian Agronomy Conference’. Hobart, Tas., 28 Jan.–2 Feb. Available at: www.regional.org.au/asa/2001/

Ryan MH, Angus JF (2003) Arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi on a low P soil do not enhance P-uptake or yield of winter-sown wheat and field pea, but do increase Zn-uptake in spring. Plant and Soil 250, 225–239.
Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar | CAS | open url image1

Ryan MH, Ash JE (1996) Colonisation of wheat in southern New South Wales by vesicular-arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi is significantly reduced by drought. Australian Journal of Experimental Agriculture 36, 563–569.
Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar | open url image1

Ryan MH, Norton RM, Kirkegaard JA, McCormick KM, Knights SE, Angus JF (2002) Increasing mycorrhizal colonisation does not improve growth and nutrition of wheat on vertosols in south-eastern Australia. Australian Journal of Agricultural Research 53, 1173–1181.
Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar | CAS | open url image1

Sheedy JG , Clewett TG , Thompson JP , Paull J , Rose IA (2009) Resistance to root lesion nematode (P. thornei) of Australian faba bean cultivars, 2008. Plant Disease Management Reports (Online). Report 3:N035. (The American Phytopathological Society: St Paul, MN) doi:10.1094/PDMR03

Siddiqi MR (1972) ‘Merlinius brevidens. C.I.H. Description of Plant-parasitic Nematodes Set 1, No. 8.’ (Commonwealth Institute of Helminthology: St Albans, UK)

Strong WM, Barry G (1980) The availability of soil and fertilizer phosphorus to wheat and rape at different water regimes. Australian Journal of Soil Research 18, 353–362.
Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar | CAS | open url image1

Talavera M, Valor H (2000) The influence of the previous crop on the anhydrobiotic survival of Pratylenchus thornei and Merlinius brevidens. Nematologia Mediterranea 28, 77–81. open url image1

Talavera M, Vanstone VA (2001) Monitoring Pratylenchus thornei densities in soil and roots under resistant (Triticum turgidum durum) and susceptible (Triticum aestivum) wheat cultivars. Phytoparasitica 29, 29–35.
Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar | open url image1

Thompson JP (1987) Decline of vesicular-arbuscular mycorrhizae in long fallow disorder of field crops and its expression in phosphorus deficiency of sunflower. Australian Journal of Agricultural Research 38, 847–867.
Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar | CAS | open url image1

Thompson JP (1991) Improving the mycorrhizal condition of the soil through cultural practices and effect on growth and phosphorus uptake by plants. In ‘Phosphorus nutrition of grain legumes in the semi-arid tropics’. (Eds C Johansen, KK Lee, KL Sahrawat) pp. 117–137. (ICRISAT: Patancheru, AP, India)

Thompson JP (1994) What is the potential for management of mycorrhizas in agriculture? In ‘Management of mycorrhizas in agriculture, horticulture and forestry’. (Eds AD Robson, LK Abbott, N Malajczuk) pp. 119–200. (Kluwer Academic Publishers: The Netherlands)

Thompson JP , Bowman R , Seymour N , Peck D , Clewett TG (1997) VAM boosts crop yields. Crop Link Agdex No. 100-532, Department of Primary Industries, Queensland, Brisbane. p. 8.

Thompson JP, Brennan PS, Clewett TG, Sheedy JG, Seymour NP (1999) Progress in breeding wheat for tolerance and resistance to root-lesion nematode (Pratylenchus thornei). Australasian Plant Pathology 28, 45–52.
Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar | open url image1

Thompson JP, Clewett TG, Sheedy JS, Reen RR, O’Reilly MM, Bell KL (2010) Occurrence of root-lesion nematodes (Pratylenchus thornei and P. neglectus) and stunt nematode (Merlinius brevidens) in the northern grain region of Australia. Australasian Plant Pathology 39, 254–264.
Crossref |
open url image1

Thompson JP , Mackenzie J , McCulloch J (1980) Nematodes: A major factor in crop sequence effects on Darling Downs wheat. In ‘Proceedings of the Australian Agronomy Conference’. Gatton, Qld. p.194. Available at: www.regional.org.au/au/asa/1980/contributed/crop-sequences/s2-10.htm

Thompson JP, Wildermuth GA (1989) Colonisation of crop and pasture species with vesicular-arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi and a negative correlation with root infection by Bipolaris sorokiniana. Canadian Journal of Botany 67, 687–693.
Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar | open url image1

Thompson JT, Owen KJ, Stirling GR, Bell MJ (2008) Root-lesion nematodes (Pratylenchus thornei and P. neglectus): a review of recent progress in managing a significant pest of grain crops in northern Australia. Australasian Plant Pathology 37, 235–242.
Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar | open url image1

Tobar A, Valor H, Talavera M (1995) Kinetics of recovery from anhydrobiosis in Pratylenchus thornei, Merlinius brevidens and Heterodera avenae from dry field soils and dry roots of the host plant. Fundamental and Applied Nematology 18, 21–24. open url image1

Townshend JL (1973) Survival of Pratylenchus penetrans and P. minyus in two Ontario soils. Nematologica 19, 35–42. open url image1

Vandersee BE (1975) Land inventory and technical guide, eastern Darling Downs area Queensland, land classification and land use. Division of Land Utilisation Technical Bulletin No. 7, Queensland Department of Primary Industries.

Whitehead AG (1997) ‘Plant nematode control.’ (CAB international: Wallingford, UK)

Whitehead AG, Hemming JR (1965) A comparison of some quantitative methods of extracting small vermiform nematodes from soil. Annals of Applied Biology 55, 25–38.
Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar | open url image1

Zadoks JC, Chang TT, Konzak CF (1974) A decimal code for the growth stages of cereals. Weed Research 14, 415–421.
Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar | open url image1