Disease suppression and pest control
Disease suppression and pest control entails processes involving the direct biotic interaction between soil organisms and plant pathogens/pests. These include antibiosis, competition, predation, parasitism and microbial grazing[1],[2],[3]. The microbial community has a prominent role in disease suppression[4],[5], while both microorganisms and meso- and macro fauna operate in pest control[6]. Historically, disease suppression is differentiated in general and specific disease suppression[7]. ‘General’ refers to the antagonistic effects of the entire soil microbial community by competition and antibiosis processes against a range of pathogens/pests. ‘Specific suppression’ denotes the activity of selected groups of organisms or even individual species and is effective to particular pathogens/pests species. In soils these two aspects are a continuum both contributing to disease suppression[8], and are therefore combined in our model.
[1] Alabouvette C. et al. 2009. Microbiological control of soil-borne phytopathogenic fungi with special emphasis on wilt-inducing Fusarium oxysporum. New Phytologist 184: 529–544.
[2] de Boer W. et al. 2019. Pathogen suppression by microbial volatile organic compounds in soils. FEMS Microbiology Ecology 95.
[3] Lemanceau P et al. 2006. Contribution of studies on suppressive soils to the identification of bacterial biocontrol agents and to the knowledge of their modes of action, in: Plant-Associated Bacteria. Springer Netherlands, pp. 231–267.
[4] Bonilla N et al. 2012. Enhancing soil quality and plant health through suppressive organic amendments. Diversity 4: 475-491
[5] Gómez Expósito R et al, 2017. Current Insights into the Role of Rhizosphere Bacteria in Disease Suppressive Soils. Frontiers in Microbiology 8:2529.
[6] Pascale A et al. 2020. Modulation of the Root Microbiome by Plant Molecules: The Basis for Targeted Disease Suppression and Plant Growth Promotion. Frontiers in Plant Science 10:1741.
[7] Schlatter D et al. 2017. Disease suppressive soils: New insights from the soil microbiome. Phytopathology 107: 1284–1297.
[8] Postma J et al. 2008. Soil suppressiveness and functional diversity of the soil microflora in organic farming systems. Soil Biology and Biochemistry 40: 2394–2406.