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Re: effects of compost?
> Are there any good scientific studies on the disease
> suppressiveness of soils treated with compost? I have seen only a
> few, and wonder if much more literature is out there.
>
> Patrick Madden, World Sustainable Agriculture Association
Disease-suppressive composts are instrumental in the
rhizosphere. Compost teas are instrumental in the
phyllosphere. That is why foliar applications of compost
teas coupled with land applications of compost are emerging
as the basis of many biological farms, along with all the
other components such as crop rotation, green manures and
cover crops, rock minerals, microbial inoculants, etc.
One large farm in California applied 200 gallons of
compost tea made from Luebke compost as a foliar drench to
celery at a cost of $0.10 per gallon. The tea wets the
foliage of the transplant and runs down the stem and
inoculates the soil too. They packed out 100 extra boxes of
celery per acres.
Many of the microbial products on the market are the same
ones found in composts, so the scientific basis of this
decades-old approach has now being verified through research
and commercialization of green products. These include
microbial antagonists like Trichoderma, Gliocladium, etc.
Harry Hoitink at Ohio State University has pioneered much of
the research into disease-suppressive potting mixes, as you
may well know. An author index search on the AGRICOLA database
will turn up many citations. More recently, his lab has
shown that a cucumber plant whose roots are in touch with
disease-suppressive compost is systemically resistant to
infection; i.e., the aerial portion of the plant resists
infection, not just the root system. Fascinating!
Elaine Ingham's (Oregon State Univ.) research on microbial
communities in soils supports the whole humus management/microbial
activity approach to biological farming. Likewise, an author index
search on AGRICOLA will turn up a long list of articles.
Siegfied Luebke's work with Controlled Microbial Composting
fits nicely with both Hoitink's and Ingham's research.
Little is published on the Luebke method, it is taught in
seminars and through practitioners. However, there is one
thesis that was published in The Netherlands. Anyways,
the level of practical and scientific knowledge the Luebkes have
contributed to the making of quality compost and microbial manipulation
of the rhizosphere and the clay-humus complex is quite amazing.
Related to the Luebkes, Bob Pike of Pike Lab Supplies in
Strong, Maine, has a microscope setup valued over $40,000
similar to that which Siegfied uses in his lab. I don't
think there is any more need for data once you can see for
yourself under a light microscope the beautiful humus-crumb
structure and activity of microbes when soils and composts are
managed properly. This certainly relates to natural disease
control, and to the use of a new research tool that supports
treatments and practices implemented on-farm and on-station.
The biodynamic composters, including Ehrenfried Pfeiffer and
William Brinton are other folks that have contributed to
this field. Plus, all the farmers across the
organic-sustainable spectrum who have plenty to offer through
years of demonstrated results on the farm.
The IPM Practitioner ran a feature that summarizes much of
the knowledge associated with disease-suppressive mixes in
the August 1995 issue, an article titled "Alternatives to
Methyl Bromide in Nurseries - Disease Suppressive Media",
pages 1-13. This is an excellent review article, as usual
from the Bio-Integral Resource Center, the publisher of IPM
Practitioner.
I put together a slide show on this whole topic last year
and found the following citations to be helpful in my
research.
Steve Diver
ATTRA - Sustainable Farming Information
General Articles:
Lumsden, Robert D. et al. 1983. Effect of organic amendments on
soilborne plant diseases and pathogen antagonists. p. 51-70. In:
Lockeretz, William (ed.) Environmentally Sound Agriculture
(Selected Papers from the Fourth International Conference of
IFOAM). Praeger Press, New York, NY.
Trankner, Andreas. 1992. Use of agricultural and municipal
organic wastes to develop suppressiveness to plant pathogens. p.
35-42. In: E.C. Tjamos, G.C. Papavizas, and R.J. Cook (ed.)
Biological Control of Plant Diseases: Progress and Challenges for
the Future. NATO ASI Series No. 230. Plenum Press, New York, NY.
Weltzein, H.C. 1990. The use of composted materials for leaf
disease suppression in field crops. p. 115-120. In: Crop
Protection in Organic and Low-Input Agriculture. BCPC Monographs
No. 45, British Crop Protection Council, Farham, Surrey, England.
Articles on Compost Watery Extracts:
Anon. 1990. Plant protection using compost extracts.
International Ag-Sieve. Vol. 3, No. 4. p. 1-2.
Andrews, J.H., and R.F. Harris. 1995. Compost extracts and the
biological control of foliar plant disease. CRIS Abstract.
Current Research Information System database in Internet URL:
http://wais.wais.com/scripts/waisgate
Brinton, William F. 1995. The control of plant pathogenic fungi
by use of compost teas. Biodynamics. January-February. p. 12-
15.
Elad, Y., and D. Shtienberg. 1994. Effect of compost water
extracts on grey mould (Botrytis cinerea). Crop Protection. Vol.
13, No. 2. p. 109-114.
Kai, Hideaki, Tohru Ueda, and Masahiro Sakaguchi. 1990.
Antimicrobial activity of bark-compost extracts. Soil Biol.
Biochem. Vol. 22, No. 7. p. 983-986.
Mache, Rainer. 1990. Protecting crops with a compost soup. The
Furrow. November-December. p. 18.
Peavy, William S. 1993. Liquid eco-fertilizer: Using 'extract
of compost' on garden crops. Ohio Ecological Food & Farm
Association News. Winter 1993. p. 10.
Weltzein, H.C., et al. 1986. Control of Downy Mildew, Plasmopara
viticola (de Bary) Berlese et de Toni, on grapevine leaves through
water extracts from composted organic wastes. Journal of
Phytopathology. Vol. 116. p. 186-188.
Weltzein, Heinrich C. 1988. The effects of compost extracts on
plant health. p. 551-552. In: Patricia Allen and Debra Van Dusen
(ed.) Global Perspectives on Agroecology and Sustainable
Agricultural Systems (Proceedings of the Sixth International
Conference of IFOAM). Agroecology Program, University of
California-Santa Cruz.
Weltzein, Heinrich C. 1989. Some effects of composted organic
materials on plant health. Agriculture, Ecosystems and
Environment. Vol. 27. p. 439-446.
Weltzein, H.C., et al. 1989. Improved plant health through
application of composted organic material and compost extracts.
p. 377-379. In: A. Djigma et al (ed). Agricultural Alternatives
and Nutritional Self-Sufficiency. Proceedings of the IFOAM
Seventh International Scientific Conference, Ouagadougou, Burkina
Faso.
Weltzein, Heinrich C. 1991. Biocontrol of foliar fungal diseases
with compost extracts. p. 430-450. In: John H. Andrews and
Susan S. Hirano (ed.) Microbial Ecology of Leaves. Springer-
Verlag, New York, NY.
Articles on Disease-Suppressive Composts:
AARC. circa 1995. Compost Doubles as Pesticide. U.S.D.A. -
Alternative Agricultural Research & Commercialization Center.
1 p. Information sheet on Earthgro potting mix research.
Williams, Greg, and Pat Williams (eds.) 1994. Disease-suppressive
growing mixes. HortIdeas. January. Vol. 11, No. 1. p. 5.
BioCycle Staff. 1991. Tree bark compost for plant protection.
p. 158-160. In: The Biocycle Guide to The Art & Science of
Composting. BioCycle: Journal of Waste Recycling. The JG Press,
Inc., Emmaus, PA.
Gindrat, D. 1979. Biological soil disinfection. p. 253-287.
In: D. Mulder (ed.) Soil Disinfection. Elsevier Scientific
Publishing Co., New York, NY.
Hadar, Yitzhak, Raphael Mandelbaum, and Barbara Gorodecki. 1992.
Biological control of soilborne plant pathogens by suprressive
composts. p. 79-83. In: E.C. Tjamos, G.C. Papavizas, and R.J.
Cook (ed.) Biological Control of Plant Diseases: Progress and
Challenges for the Future. NATO ASI Series No. 230. Plenum
Press, New York, NY.
Hoitink, Harry A.J. 1980. Fungicidal properties of composted
bark. Compost Science/Land Utilization. November-December. p.
24-27.
Hoitink, Harry A., and Peter C. Fahy. 1986. Basis for the
control of soilborne plant pathogens with composts. Annual
Reviews of Phytopathology. Vol. 24. p. 93-114.
Hoitink, H.A.J., Y. Inbar, and M.J. Boehm. 1991. Status of
compost-amended potting mixes naturally suppressive to soilborne
diseases of floricultural crops. Plant Disease. September. p.
869-873.
Hoitink, H.A.J., Y. Inbar, and M.J. Boehm. 1993. Compost can
suppress soil-borne diseases in container media. American
Nurseryman. September 15. p. 91-94.
Martinson, Charlie A. 1995. Control of soil-borne pathogens with
strategic use of animal manures. Competitive Grant Report 90-65.
Progress Report of the Leopold Center for Sustainable Agriculture,
Iowa State University. Volume 4. p. 92-96.
Articles on Control of Plant Pathogens & Inocula through
Composting:
Lopez-Real, J., and M. Foster. 1985. Plant pathogen survival
during the composting of agricultural organic wastes. p. 291-299.
In: J.K.R. Glasser (ed.) Composting of Agricultural and Other
Wastes. Elsevier Applied Science Publishers, New York, NY.
Yuen, G.Y., and R.D. Raabe. 1984. Effects of small-scale aerobic
composting on survival of some fungal plant pathogens. Plant
Disease. Vol. 68, No. 2. p. 134-136.
Articles on Induced Resistance to Plant Pathogens:
Kuc, Joseph, and Norman E. Strobel. 1992. Induced resistance
using pathogens and nonpathogens. p. 295-301. In: E.S. Tjamos,
G.C. Papavizas, and R.J. Cook (ed.) Biological Control of Plant
Diseases: Progress and Challenges for the Future. NATO ASI Series
No. 230. Plenum Press, New York, NY.