Effects of Fallow, Cover Crops, Organic Mulches, and Fenamiphos on Nematode Populations, Soil Nutrients, and Subsequent Crop Growth

Abstract

Experiments were conducted to test the efficacy of summer cover crops, soil-fallow, organic mulches, and fenamiphos for managing populations of plant-parasitic nematodes; effects on soil nutrients were also measured. Three months of fallow, mulching with clippings of bahiagrass (Paspalum notatum) or cowpea (Vigna unguiculata), and growth of the cover crops hairy indigo (Indigofera hirsuta) and joint vetch (Aeschynomene americana) were highly effective for maintaining low populations of Belonolaimus longicaudatus and Meloidogyne incognitga. Cover crops of a mixed seeding of sorghum-sudangrass hybrid (Sorghum bicolor x S. sudanense) and sesbania (Sesbania exaltata), and a natural growth of weeds consisting mostly of pigweed (Amaranthus retroflexus), crabgrass (Digitaria sanguinalis), and goosegrass (Eleusine indica) increased populations of these nematodes. Growth of snap bean (Phaseolus vulgaris) and cucumber (Cucumis sativus) was significantly greater following the mulches, fallow, a