ATTEMPTS TO USE SOIL SOLARIZATION IN CLOSED GLASSHOUSES IN NORTHERN ITALY FOR CONTROLLING CORKY ROOT OF TOMATO (*)

Solar heating of soil (solarization) is a method for controlling soil-borne pathogens, recently developed in hot climate countries.
In Northern Italy the effectiveness of soil mulching by polyethylene and polyvinyl chloride (PVC) during summer months has been tested in open field and under glass and plastic greenhouses in the last four years against corky root (Pyrenochaeta lycopersici) and Verticillium wilt (V. dahliae) of tomato.
In open field the soil temperature did not increase enough to reduce the inoculum level of the pathogens in the soil.
In closed plastic and glasshouses the mulching of moistened soil with transparent polyethylene sheets, during 5–6 weeks in july-august, induced an increase of temperature: maximum of temperatures in glasshouses in the mulched soil were 50–55 and 41–42°C at the depth of 5 and 20 cm, respectively.
In the glasshouse the severity of corky root was markedly reduced in two successive crops and significant increases of the yield have been obtained in both crops.
In plastic greenhouses the solar heating was generally less effective, giving variable results.
Polyethylene and PVC mulching controlled corky root to a similar extent: PVC induced however an earlier heating of the soil in the morning.
A combination of solarization with half dosage of Di-trapex (methyl isothiocyanate + DD) gave results almost similar to that of soil mulching alone.

II International Symposium on Soil Disinfestation

A. Garibaldi, G. Tamietti

https://doi.org/10.17660/ActaHortic.1984.152.25