P-411 - Managing of crown and root rot in strawberry using biological products

Abstract Text: Strawberry is a biennial crop that produces 50-65 tons per hectare depending of variety. However, this yield drops abruptly in the second year of cultivation due to crown and root rot caused by various soil-borne fungi such as: Phytophthora, Fusarium, Cylindrocarpon or Verticillium. The monoculture and the resistance structures of these pathogens difficult the disease control. Chemical products are not effective and have use restrictions during harvest, that is extended by several month in this crop. Microorganisms such as Trichoderma and Bacillus are known to control diseases and/or promote plant growth. The objective was to evaluate biological products for managing root diseases in strawberry crops. A two-season trial was set up in the field, where a Trichoderma product, and a Bacillus product were applied only or combined with a humid acid product every 10 days through fertigation. Yied per plant and plant mortality were evaluated over two seasons. It was observed that the products increased yield from 9% to 39% depending on the treatment applied, with the treatments that included Bacillus being particularly notable. It was observed that the humic acid-based product acts as an enhancer of microbiological treatments, as its addition increased yields with all the products applied. It was also observed that all treatments reduced significantly plant mortality by 9% to 12% compared to the control, depending on the treatment applied. Biological products is an alternative to reduce effects of crown and root disease in strawberry crop free to chemical residues in fruit.