VIEW ARTICLE

Ecology and Epidemiology

Influence of Soil Temperature and Moisture on the Severity of Cylindrocladium Black Rot in Peanut. P. M. Phipps, Visiting Assistant Professor, Department of Plant Pathology, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, NC 27607; M. K. Beute, Associate Professor, Department of Plant Pathology, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, NC 27607. Phytopathology 67:1104-1107. Accepted for publication 10 March 1977. Copyright © 1977 The American Phytopathological Society, 3340 Pilot Knob Road, St. Paul, MN 55121. All rights reserved.. DOI: 10.1094/Phyto-67-1104.

A soil temperature of 25 C and moisture content near field capacity were most conducive for infection and rot of peanut roots by Cylindrocladium crotalariae. Less root infection and rot occurred in soil at 20 C and 30 C, and no measurable disease resulted in soil at 35 C. The response of plants in soil at 35 C for 9 hr during daylight, then 25 C for the remainder of each day was similar to that obtained at a constant soil temperature of 35 C. A lower degree of root infection and rot resulted at 20, 25, and 30 C when soil was irrigated only after the moisture content reached a level near the wilting point of plants. In experiments conducted with artificially-infested field soil, the survival of C. crotalariae microsclerotia in soil was not affected either by the irrigation regime or by temperature.