Effects of cultural management on the foot and root disease complex of durum wheat

The effects of three tillage techniques (chisel ploughing and mouldboard ploughing to a depth of 25 and 50 cm) and four 2-year crop rotations (continuous wheat, wheat/barley, wheat/sugar beet and wheat/fallow) on the foot and root rot disease complex of durum wheat were studied from 1999 to 2001 in an experimental field at the Bologna University farm. Brown foot rot and eyespot were the major components of the foot and root disease complex. Ploughing was more effective than chiseling in controlling eyespot over the whole period of observation, whereas it reduced brown foot rot only in 1999. Wheat/sugar beet was generally less favourable to the foot and root disease than other rotations tested. A more detailed analysis carried out in 2000, indicated that Fusarium culmorum was predominant with chiseling and scarce in ploughing, whereas Bipolaris sorokiniana was predominant in plots that were ploughed.