Microbiota from ‘next-generation green compost’ improves suppressiveness of composted Municipal-Solid-Waste to soil-borne plant pathogens

In this study, the pathogen-specific property of commercial composts to suppress Fusarium oxysporum f. sp. melonis wilt on melon has been enhanced transferring the multi-suppressive properties from seven ‘next-generation green composts’ made of agro-industrial residues and plant green-waste, including the steam-explosion liquid wastes derived from a 2nd-generation fuel ethanol production chain, into two composts made of Municipal-Solid-Waste (MSW) and one made of cow manure-household waste. After determination either of the physical-chemical features and suppressive properties of the starting composts, either of the taxonomic structure and biological-enzymatic properties of the microbial consortia derived from them, the objective of this work has been reached recruiting the microbial consortia into an industrial composting cycle. A total of twenty-one tailor-made composts were tested for the suppressive properties into a nursery soil-less system under greenhouse condition using plant growing media container amended with 30% (v/v) sterile peat. Excellent results in suppressing at the same time Phytium ultimum damping-off on cucumber, Rhizoctonia solani damping-off on bean, Phytophthora nicotianae root rot on tomato, and Verticillium dahliae wilt on eggplant, reaching peaks of suppression up to 60%, were obtained using the two MSW-based composts amended with extracts recruited from the green composts. Some hypothesis about the most probable models involved in multi-suppress...
Source: Biological Control - Category: Biology Source Type: research