Abstract

BUCIO VILLALOBOS, Carlos Manuel; DIAZ SERRANO, Fidel René; MARTINEZ JAIME, Oscar Alejandro  and  TORRES MORALES, Juan José. Effect of ozone on soil microbial populations and growth of strawberry plants. Terra Latinoam [online]. 2016, vol.34, n.2, pp.229-237. ISSN 2395-8030.

Soil borne plant pathogens can be controlled using fumigants, which also are potential environmental pollutants. In order to provide an environment-friendly alternative, this research aimed to evaluate the effectiveness of ozone dissolved in water and applied through irrigation in reducing populations of soil-borne microorganisms and its possible indirect positive effect on plant growth. Ozone dissolved in water with a generator was applied through a drip irrigation system established in a plot planted with strawberry variety Camino Real. Soil was sampled at 10 sites in the experimental plots, before and after application. Samples were processed in a laboratory and populations of bacteria, fungi and nematodes were quantified. Applying ozone in irrigation water reduced populations of fungi, bacteria and nematodes from 22.8 × 104 to 8.5 × 104, from 4.3 × 106 to 1.2 × 106 colony formation units (CFU) per gram of soil, and from 20.3 to 10.4 filiform nematodes per 100 mL of soil, respectively. The efficacy of ozone as a fumigant against the three types of microorganisms evaluated was similar to that of metam sodium (control). The single application of ozone at the beginning of planting had no effect on strawberry plants growth.

Keywords : fumigants; soil pathogens; metam sodium.