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ViewAttendees 8

P-IE

Section Symposium

“It’s Going Down for Real” Ecological Interactions in the Soil

11: Cover legacy of soil alters plant defenses to pathogens and caterpillars in maize

Monday, November 16, 2020
6:30 PM - 6:45 PM EST
Livestream
The use of different plant species as cover crops in organic cropping systems has been shown to provide several ecosystem services. The impacts of different cover crop species on subsequent cash crop towards pest suppression is rarely accounted for in agricultural management. Such consequences are of importance considering recent findings that legacy of plants that promote arbuscular mycorrhizal communities, such as cereal rye and oats as cover crops, can provide increased benefits to successive maize crops against fall armyworm and European corn borer. We tested whether such benefits might also include resistance against pathogens. We examined progression of rot lesions in maize ear, stalk and seedling blight by Fusarium verticillioides in maize plants that were grown in soil with a cover crop monoculture history of either winter pea, triticale or radish. Our study shows for the first time that soil legacy of mycorrhizal monocot triticale as a cover crop renders maize plants more susceptible to ear rot and seedling blight by Fusarium verticillioides as compared to a soil legacy of radish. This suggests that although soil legacy of radish may be detrimental to management of insects, it is effective in suppressing progression of Fusarium verticillioides in maize. This study demonstrates the potential for cover crop selection to manage fungal pathogens such as Fusarium verticillioides, it further suggests trade-offs in resistance to various pests’ taxa at the cover crop species level.