Potential of undersown species identity versus diversity to manage disease in crops

Seraina Lisa Cappelli, Luiz Alberto Domeignoz Horta, Stephanie Gerin, Jussi Heinonsalo, Annalea Lohila, Krista Raveala, Bernhard Schmid, Rashmi Shrestha, Mikko Johannes Tiusanen, Paula Thitz, Anna-Liisa Laine

Tutkimustuotos: ArtikkelijulkaisuArtikkeliTieteellinenvertaisarvioitu

Abstrakti

In the absence of chemical control with its negative side effects, fungal pathogens can cause large yield losses, requiring us to develop agroecosystems that are inherently disease resistant. Grassland biodiversity experiments often find plant species diversity to reduce pathogen pressure, but whether incorporating high biodiversity levels in agricultural fields have similar effects remains largely unknown. We tested if undersown plant species diversity could reduce barley disease, and whether the effect was mediated through above- or below-ground mechanisms, by combining an agricultural field trial with a soil transplant experiment. As predicted, barley disease decreased in the presence of undersown plants. Undersown species richness had no effect, but their abundance led to early season disease reduction. Above-ground mechanisms underpinned this disease reduction. Barley yield slightly decreased with increasing undersown species richness, and undersown species varied in their impact on yield. We identified two undersown species, Trifolium repens and T. hybridum, that contributed most to disease reduction and had the potential to increase barley yield. Furthermore, our results indicate that above-ground mechanisms caused this. We show that agroecosystem functioning can be improved without trade-offs on yield by targeted selection of undersown species. Read the free Plain Language Summary for this article on the Journal blog.

Alkuperäiskielienglanti
LehtiFunctional Ecology
Vuosikerta38
Numero7
Sivut1497-1509
Sivumäärä13
ISSN0269-8463
DOI - pysyväislinkit
TilaJulkaistu - 2024
OKM-julkaisutyyppiA1 Alkuperäisartikkeli tieteellisessä aikakauslehdessä, vertaisarvioitu

Lisätietoja

Publisher Copyright:
© 2024 The Author(s). Functional Ecology published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd on behalf of British Ecological Society.

Tieteenalat

  • 1181 Ekologia, evoluutiobiologia
  • 11831 Kasvibiologia

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