Incorporação de fabáceas ao substrato de plantio para controle da podridão-de-escleródio (Sclerotium rolfsii Sacc.) em cubiu (Solanum sessiliflorum Dunal)

Abstract

Cubiu (Solanum sessiliflorum Dunal) cultivation in the Amazonas state is limited by the high incidence of southern blight caused by the soilborne fungus Sclerotium rolfsii Sacc. The incorporation of plant material into the substrate changes the microflora present by increasing the organic matter content and by the plants decomposition exudates, which may be toxic or beneficial to the different microorganisms present on the substrate. The incorporated organic matter also increases the nutrient content available to the plant. The objective of this study was to evaluate the potential for control of southern blight by the incorporation of fresh comminuted biomass of four Fabaceae species: Erythrina fusca and Senna reticulata, native to Amazonia, and Desmodium heterocarpon and Gliricidia sepium, exotic to the substrate. The isolate of S. rolfsii was obtained from cubiu plants with disease symptoms and multiplied in autoclaved rice. Infestation of the substrate (argisol: chicken manure, 2: 1) was done with the incorporation of 10 g of colonized rice.L-1, in pots filled with 8 L of substrate, kept in a nursery. After 20 days of infestation, were incorporated 40 g of the Fabaceae biomass.L-1 substrate. The cubiu seedlings, 90 days after sowing, were transplanted one week after the incorporation of the Fabaceae. The experimental design was completely randomized, with three replicates and seven treatments: four species of Fabaceae and three controls, without the incorporation of biomass. In one control the substrate was not infested and in other, the plants were sprayed (9 mL.plant-1) twice, 50 days apart, with fungicide (Viper 700®, methyl thiophanate, 0.49 g a.i. for litter of water). Another experiment was carried out to evaluate the effect of doses of G. sepium incorporated into the substrate. The experiment had a completely randomized design and three replicates, with six treatments: incorporation of 40, 80, 120 and 160 g of G. sepium.L-1 substrate and two controls without incorporation of G. sepium. In one control, the plants were treated with fungicide. In this experiment, the pots were filled with 6 L of substrate infested as described in the previous experiment. In both experiments the disease and the inoculum incidence in the substrate were evaluated. In the first experiment, the data from the area below the disease progress curve were submitted to ANOVA and the means, compared by the Tukey test. In the second experiment, the data were submitted to regression analysis. In the first experiment the cubiu plants cultived in substrate with Fabaceae incorporation or treated with fungicide had the same southern blight incidence and in the pathogen suppression. In the second experiment, the incidence of southern blight was proportional to the G. sepium dose incorporated. With the incorporation of 139 g of G. sepium.L-1 no diseased plants were observed. Also the incorporation of 142 g G. sepium.L-1 substrate reduced the population of S. rolfsii in the substrate by 20%.