Impact of organic soil amendments and fumigation on plant-parasitic nematodes in a southwest Florida vegetable field

The effects of composted amendments and soil fumigation with methyl bromide/chloropicrin on plant-parasitic nematodes were examined in a three-year split-plot field experiment on tomato (Lycopersicon esculentum) in southwest Florida. Composted amendments included municipal solid waste, yard waste, and/or biosolids. Population densities of Meloidogyne incognita and root galling on tomato from this nematode were decreased (P less than or equal to 0.05) by soil fumigation, but increased (P less than or equal to 0.10) in response to compost amendment, with maximum levels in non-fumigated, compost-amended plots. Population densities of Criconemoides spp. and Hemicycliophora spp. were reduced by fumigation. Application of compost reduced population densities of Hemicycliophora spp. but did not affect Criconemoides spp. Numbers of Paratrichodorus minor were not affected by either treatment. Amendment with municipal solid waste compost was not an effective alternative to methyl bromide fumigation for management of the root-knot nematode in this site within the time-frame of the experiment.