Effect of spent mushroom substrate on tomato wilt disease

Abstract

An investigation was carried out on the effect of spent mushroom substrate

on the wilt disease of tomato when the spent substrate is used as soil

amendment. The experiment was carried out at the teaching and research

Farm of the Faculty of Agriculture and the Mycology/Plant Pathology Laboratory

of the Department of Plant Science and Biotechnology, University of

Port Harcourt. Two tomato varieties tropimech (TT

3) and tomate U82B(TT2)

at 4

â€Â6wks old stage were transplanted into potted soil amended with spent

mushroom substrate at the ratio 1:3, 1:4, 1:5 and 1:6 in plastic pots. Stem

diameter, plant height, number of leaves, disease incidence and disease severity

were evaluated.

Fusarium oxysporum was implicated as the causal

agent of the disease;

Aspergillus sp and Rhizopus sp were also isolated from

the soil though not pathogenic to the plants. The ratio 1:4 was observed to

have the most positive effect on the disease, while the ratio 1:5 had the least

effect on the disease.