Influence of cherry orchard management systems on nematodecommunity structure

Bird, G., C. Edson, J. Scringer, J. Sanchez, A. Middleton, T. Willson, J. Nugent, R. Harwood, M. Whalon, J. Davenport, and F. Otto

Presented at the Campus Symposium (2001-04-19 )

A research site for evaluation of 13 orchard soil nutrient and groundcover systems was established in 1995 in a commercial cherry orchard next to the Northwest Michigan Horticultural Research Station.  Each system was replicated four times throughout the orchard and monitored for fruit yield, tree growth, groundwater quality, groundcover establishment-dynamics, nematode community structure, C-N mineralization and arthropods.  The project has been funded by the Michigan Department of Agriculture, Michigan cherry growers, USDA/CSREES, MSU GREEN, and NC SARE.  The objective of this contribution is to report on the impact of six of the thirteen cherry management systems on nematode community structure on May 29, 1999.  The management systems did not have a significant influence (P=0,05) on the absolute densities of herbivores, omnivores, carnivores and the total population.  Population densities of bacterivores, however, were impacted.  Bacterivore population densities associated with the BioSystem (organic) and the Covercrop System were significantly (P=0.05) greater than those recovered from the Conventional and Fertigation Systems.  Bacterivore population densities associated with the Compost and Mulch Systems were not significantly different from those of the other five systems.  Orchard management had no significant impact (P=0.05) on the relative population densities of bacterivores, fungivores, omnivores, and carnivores associated with this site, as analyzed on May 29, 1999.  The relative population densities of the herbivores, however, was impacted by various management systems.  Relative herbivore densities from the Conventional and Fertigation Systems were significantly (P=0.05) greater than those of the BioSystem (organic).  Relative densities associated with the Fertigation System were also significantly (P=0.05) greater than those of the Mulch and Compost Systems.  The absolute and relative nematode population densities for various components of the nematode community structure of the MSU Cherry Groundcover Management System Project were impacted by specific management systems.  In general, the high population densities of bacterial feeding nematodes were associated with the management systems involving biological-organic inputs and the lower population densities of bacterial feeders were associated with the conventional and synthetic input systems.  The relative population densities of the plant parasitic nematodes were generally higher in the conventional and synthetic input systems than in those using biological and organic inputs-management.  The data confirm the hypothesis that agricultural management systems impact soil biology in ways that can be both detected and predicted through the use of nematode community structure analysis.   

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