Modeling the Effects of Environmental Factors on the Population of Fusarium oxysporum in Cucumber Continuously Cropped Soil

Abstract

The influences of soil environmental parameters (water potential [W_p], pH, and temperature) on the indigenous population of Fusarium oxysporum (FO) over 5 years of continuously cropped cucumber (CCC) soil were studied. The use of response surface methodology to model the combined effects of environmental parameters on the soil log₁₀ FO internal transcribed spacer copies (ITSC) showed that high W_p of the soil, above –20 kPa, caused increased ITSC in the soil that was independent of the temperature and pH. Fusarium oxysporum was able to grow at all temperatures and pH values tested, and the greatest growth rate was observed at 23–24 °C and pH 5.3–5.4. The W_p is a crucial environmental factor that affects the growth of soil FO. This study should contribute to estimating the impact of environmental factors on the soil FO proliferation rate in CCC soil.

Keywords:

• Fungal population
• Fusarium wilt
• real-time PCR
• response surface methodology
• water potential

Acknowledgments

This study was financially supported by the Chinese Ministry of Science and Technology (2010AA10Z401) and the Chinese Ministry of Agriculture (201103004).