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ARS Home » Northeast Area » Orono, Maine » New England Plant, Soil and Water Research Laboratory » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #319104

Title: Soil Health Paradigms and Implications for Disease Management

Author
item Larkin, Robert - Bob

Submitted to: Annual Review of Phytopathology
Publication Type: Review Article
Publication Acceptance Date: 5/10/2015
Publication Date: 5/31/2015
Citation: Larkin, R.P. 2015. Soil Health Paradigms and Implications for Disease Management. Annual Review of Phytopathology. 53:199-221 DOI: 10.1146/annurev-phyto-080614-120357.

Interpretive Summary:

Technical Abstract: Soil health has been defined as the capacity of soil to function as a vital living system to sustain biological productivity, maintain environmental quality, and promote plant, animal, and human health. Building and maintaining soil health is essential to agricultural sustainability and ecosystem function. Management practices that promote soil health, including the increased use of crop rotations, cover crops and green manures, organic amendments, and conservation tillage, also have generally positive effects on the management of soilborne diseases through a number of potential mechanisms, including increasing soil microbial biomass, activity, and diversity, resulting in greater biological suppression of pathogens and diseases. However, there also may be particular disease issues associated with some soil health management practices. In this review, research and progress made over the past twenty years regarding soil health, sustainability, and soil health management practices, with an emphasis on their implications and effects on plant disease and disease management strategies are summarized.