Testing soil for legume fatigue
Problem: Among legume crops, forage peas and field beans show the most symptoms of legume fatigue. This is due to infestation with Mycosphaerella, Phoma, Fusarium, Aphanomyces and other soil-borne pathogens as a result of over-cultivation of peas or other legumes such as lupines, field beans, vetches, red clover or lucerne. A heavy infestation may lead to a total loss of the peas or beans.
Solution: With the help of a simple legume fatigue test, the soil can be examined for legume-fatigue symptoms prior to cultivation with field peas.
Benefis: The method offers reference points regarding the soil contamination with the above-mentioned pathogens, and thus indication for a possibly required cultivation break. Refraining from cultivating on contaminated soils helps avoid high yield loss due to legume fatigue.
Recommendations:
1. Extract 10 litres of humid soil from the field plot you wish to examine and sieve it down to a grain size of 10 mm.
2. Moisten dry samples and mix them up evenly.
3. Fill four aluminium trays with the humid soil and store the remaining soil.
4. Cover the trays filled with soil with tinfoil and place them in the baking oven. Sterilise the samples for at least 12 hrs at
70-100 °C in the oven.
5. Let the aluminium trays cool for 12 hrs after sterilisation.
6. Mark four flowerpots with "R" (for untreated reference) and another four with "H" (for heat-treated soil).
7. Fill the four H-flowerpots with the heat-treated soil and fill the four R-flowerpots with the untreated soil.
8. Place 5 field pea seeds in each pot and cover them with 0.5 cm of soil.
9. Place the pots in a tray with some water and keep them in a sheltered place with at least 18 °C and daylight.
More information: https://zenodo.org/record/3232910
DiverIMPACTS - Diversification through Rotation, Intercropping, Multiple Cropping, Promoted with Actors and value-Chains towards Sustainability
Ongoing | 2017-2022
- Main funding source
- Horizon 2020 (EU Research and Innovation Programme)
- Geographical location
- France