VIEW ARTICLE

Ecology and Epidemiology

The Influence of Black Plastic Mulching on Infection Rates of Verticillium Wilt and Yield of Eggplant. G. W. Moorman, Assistant professor, University of Massachusetts, Suburban Experiment Station, 240 Beaver Street, Waltham 02254; Phytopathology 72:1412-1414. Accepted for publication 9 April 1982. Copyright 1982 The American Phytopathological Society. DOI: 10.1094/Phyto-72-1412.

Infection rates for Verticillium wilt in populations of four eggplant cultivars either grown on bare ground or mulched with black plastic ranged from 0.088 to 0.202 per unit per day in 1979, from 0.168 to 0.395 per unit per day in 1980, and from 0.150 to 0.276 per unit per day in 1981. Infection rates did not differ significantly among cultivars whether mulched or not mulched but differed significantly from year to year. Yields of mulched plants were greater than yields of plants not mulched. During one season, yields of eggplant grown in a Verticillium-infested field plot were 27–57% of yields of plants grown in an adjacent plot free of Verticillium.