VIEW ARTICLE

Ecology and Epidemiology

Soil Factors Affecting Survival of Microsclerotia of Verticillium dahliae. R. J. Green, Jr., Professor, Department of Botany and Plant Pathology, Purdue University, W. Lafayette, IN 47907; Phytopathology 70:353-355. Accepted for publication 17 October, 1979. Copyright 1980 The American Phytopathological Society. DOI: 10.1094/Phyto-70-353.

Survival of microsclerotia (MS) of Verticillium dahliae was determined over 60 mo in two soil types (Warsaw silt loam [WSL]and Chelsea loamy fine sand [CLFS]) at constant soil moistures of –0.001, –1/3, and –15 bars matric water potential, fluctuating soil moisture (–0.001 bar to air dry) and constant temperatures of 4 C and 28 C. Survival was poorest in the WSL soil type, –0.001 bar, 28 C. In all other treatments there was an initial propagule increase (10–80%) over a period of 3–28 mo followed by a gradual decline. Although differences varied, survival of MS was consistently higher in the CLFS soil type; however, soil moisture and temperature were not major limiting factors in survival except at the combined soil moisture extreme of –0.001 bar and the higher temperature.