From Fertilizer to Disease Control: Study of the Relationship between Fertilizer Applications and Bacterial Fruit Blotch Disease

Abstract

In this research, the effects of different doses of nitrogen (Ammonium sulfate) and phosphorus (Triple superphosphate) fertilizers given in combination in melon cultivation on the growth of bacterial fruit blotch caused by Acidovorax citrulli were examined. The experiment was conducted with a randomized plot design that consisted of three replications. The study included recommended optimal doses, 25%, 50%, and 100% more than the optimal dose, as well as a control group that did not receive any fertilizer application. The findings of the study revealed that the application of the optimal fertilizer dose caused the least disease severity (27.78%), while 55.56% disease severity was determined in the pathogen (control) application only, while the disease severity was highest when the fertilizer dose was increased by 100% more than the optimal dose. The results indicate a direct association between the amount of fertilizer applied and the intensity of disease severity, where in a greater severity of disease is noted with higher doses of fertilizer.

Keywords

• Acidovorax citrulli
• Disease severity
• Fertilizer dosage
• Nitrogen fertilizer
• Phosphorus fertilizer

References

1. Abbott, W. S. (1925). A method of computing the effectiveness of an insecticide. Journal of Economic Entomology, 18(2), 265-267.
2. Agrios, N. G. (2005). Plant Pathology (5th ed.). Elsevier, Academic Press.
3. Amtmann, A., Troufflard, S., & Armengaud, P. (2008). The effect of potassium nutrition on pest and disease resistance in plants. Physiologia Plantarum, 133(4), 682-691.
4. Batish, D. R., Singh, H. P., Setia, N., Kohli, R. K., Kaur, S., & Yadav, S. S. (2007). Alternative control of littleseed canary grass using eucalypt oil. Agronomy for Sustainable Development, 27, 171-177.
5. Bolat, İ., & Kara, Ö. (2017). Plant nutrients: Sources, functions, deficiencies and redundancy. Bartın Orman Fakültesi Dergisi, 19(1), 218-228.
6. Burdman, S., & Walcott, R. O. N. (2012). Acidovorax citrulli: Generating basic and applied knowledge to tackle a global threat to the cucurbit industry. Molecular Plant Pathology, 13(8), 805-815.
7. Cakmak, I. (2005). The role of potassium in alleviating detrimental effects of abiotic stresses in plants. Journal of Plant Nutrition and Soil Science, 168(4), 521-530.
8. Camprubí, A., Estaún, V., El Bakali, M. A., Garcia-Figueres, F., & Calvet, C. (2007). Alternative strawberry production using solarization, metham sodium, and beneficial soil microbes as plant protection methods. Agronomy for Sustainable Development, 27, 179-184.

9. Carvalho, F. C., Santos, L. A., Dias, R. C., Mariano, R. L., & Souza, E. B. (2013). Selection of watermelon genotypes for resistance to bacterial fruit blotch. Euphytica, 190, 169-180.
10. Celar, F. (2003). Competition for ammonium and nitrate forms of nitrogen between some phytopathogenic and antagonistic soil fungi. Biological Control, 28(1), 19-24.
11. Demir, G. (1996). A new bacterial disease of watermelon in Türkiye: Bacterial fruit blotch of watermelon (Acidovorax avenae subsp. citrulli). Journal of Turkish Phytopathology, 25(1/2), 43-49.
12. Dordas, C. (2008). Role of nutrients in controlling plant diseases in sustainable agriculture: A review. Agronomy for Sustainable Development, 28, 33-46.
13. Esringü, A., Kotan, R., Bayram, F., Ekinci, M., Yildirim, E., Nadaroğlu, H., & Katircioğlu, H. (2016). Sarımsak yetiştiriciliğinde farklı bakteri biyoformülasyonu uygulamalarının bitki gelişimi parametreleri, verim ve enzim düzeyleri üzerine etkisi. Nevşehir Bilim ve Teknoloji Dergisi, 5, 214-227.
14. Güçdemir, İ. (2006). Türkiye Fertilizer and Fertilization Guide. Toprak Gübre ve Su Kaynakları Merkez Araştırma Enstitüsü Müdürlüğü.
15. Huber, D. M., & Haneklaus, S. (2007). Managing nutrition to control plant disease. Landbauforschung Volkenrode, 57(4), 313.
16. Huber, D. M., & Thompson, A. (2007). Nitrogen and plant disease. In L. E. Datnoff, W. H. Elmer, & D. M. Huber (Eds.), Mineral Nutrition and Plant Disease (pp. 31–44). American Phytopathological Society Press.
17. Inik. (2019). Isolation and diagnosis of Acidovorax avenae subsp. citrulli caused bacterial fruit blotch disease in melon plant in Idır province (Master's thesis, Iğdır University).
18. Kacar, B. (2009). Soil Analysis. Nobel Publication Distribution.
19. Krauss, A. (1999, June). Balanced nutrition and biotic stress. In IFA Agricultural Conference on Managing Plant Nutrition (Vol. 29).
20. Latin, R. X., & Hopkins, D. L. (1995). Bacterial fruit blotch of watermelon: The hypothetical exam question becomes reality. Plant Disease, 79(8), 761-765.
21. Marschner, H. (Ed.). (2011). Marschner's Mineral Nutrition of Higher Plants. Academic Press.
22. Nicolas, O., Charles, M. T., Jenni, S., Toussaint, V., Parent, S. É., & Beaulieu, C. (2019). The ionomics of lettuce infected by Xanthomonas campestris pv. vitians. Frontiers in Plant Science, 10, 351.
23. Öborn, I., Edwards, A. C., Witter, E., Oenema, O., Ivarsson, K., Withers, P. J. A., & Stinzing, A. R. (2003). Element balances as a tool for sustainable nutrient management: A critical appraisal of their merits and limitations within an agronomic and environmental context. European Journal of Agronomy, 20(1-2), 211-225.
24. Rahman, M., & Punja, Z. K. (2007). Calcium and plant disease. In L. E. Datnoff, W. H. Elmer, & D. M. Huber (Eds.), Mineral Nutrition and Plant Disease (pp. 79-93). American Phytopathological Society Press.
25. R Core Team. (2023). R: A language and environment for statistical computing. R Foundation for Statistical Computing. Retrieved from https://www.R-project.org/.
26. Römheld, V., & Kirkby, E. A. (2010). Research on potassium in agriculture: Needs and prospects. Plant and Soil, 335, 155-180.
27. Saygılı, H., & Şahin, F., Aysan, Y. (2006). Phytobacteriology. Meta Basım İzmir.
28. Sharma, S., Duveiller, E., Basnet, R., Karki, C. B., & Sharma, R. C. (2005). Effect of potash fertilization on Helminthosporium leaf blight severity in wheat, and associated increases in grain yield and kernel weight. Field Crops Research, 93(2-3), 142-150.
29. Schaad, N. W., Postnikova, E., & Randhawa, P. (2003). Emergence of Acidovorax avenae subsp. citrulli as a crop threatening disease of watermelon and melon. In Pseudomonas Syringae and Related Pathogens: Biology and Genetic (pp. 573-581). Springer.
30. Townsend, G. R., & Heuberger, J. W. (1943). Methods for estimating losses caused by diseases in fungicide experiments. Plant Disease Reporter, 27, 340-343.
31. Wang, M., Zheng, Q., Shen, Q., & Guo, S. (2013). The critical role of potassium in plant stress response. International Journal of Molecular Sciences, 14(4), 7370-7390.
32. Zimerman-Lax, N., Shenker, M., Tamir-Ariel, D., Perl-Treves, R., & Burdman, S. (2016). Effects of nitrogen nutrition on disease development caused by Acidovorax citrulli on melon foliage. European Journal of Plant Pathology, 145, 125-137