ABSTRACT
Nematicide/irrigation rate trials were conducted in Texas (TX) in 2009 and 2010 in cotton grown at three irrigation rates, where irrigation rate (base (B), B - 33%, B + 33%) was the main plot and treatment (untreated check, aldicarb, and nematicide seed treatment (NST) and NST + aldicarb) were the subplots. Aldicarb improved cotton lint yield with the base (medium) irrigation rate over the untreated check, but not at the B - 33% and B + 33% irrigation rates. In a second evaluation, 20 tests conducted over 7 yr at the same field in TX and 12 tests conducted over 6 yr at the same field in Alabama (AL) were examined for impact of environmental variables (EV) on the response to NST (containing thiodicarb or abamectin), aldicarb, a nontreated check (CK), insecticide seed treatment (TX only), and a combination of NST + aldicarb + oxamyl (NST/A/O, AL only) on root galls (TX only), early season nematode eggs (AL only), and yield (both sites). Galls/root system were lower with aldicarb-treated plots, than for the CK- or NST-treated plots. As water (irrigation plus rain) in May increased, galls/root system increased for CK or insecticide-only-treated plots, and decreased for NST- and aldicarb-treated plots, suggesting efficacy of nematicides was strongly improved by adequate soil moisture. Nematode reproduction was not affected by EV in either location, though yield was negatively affected by root-knot nematode eggs in AL at 60 d. Yield in both AL and TX was negatively related to temperature parameters and positively related to water parameters. With the addition of EV in TX, chemical treatments went from not significantly different in the absence of EV to aldicarb-treated plots having higher yields than nonnematicide-treated plots in the presence of EV. In AL, NST/A/O-treated plots yielded similar to aldicarb and better than CK or NST in the absence of EV and had significantly higher yields than all other treatments in the presence of most EV.
ABSTRACT
Plots naturally infested with Rotylenchulus reniformis were sampled in the spring of 2006 and 2007 at depths of 15 and 30 cm in the bed, furrow over the drip tape, and "dry" furrow, and at approximately 40 to 45 cm depth in the bed and dry furrow. Then, 1,3-dichloropropene (Telone EC) was injected into the subsurface drip irrigation at 46 kg a.i./ha, and 3 to 4 weeks later the plots were resampled and assayed for nematodes. The transformed values for nematode population density (IvLRr) before fumigation were higher at 30 and 40 cm depths than at a 15 cm depth. IvLRr before fumigation was higher in the soil over the drip lines than in the bed or dry furrow and was higher in the bed than the dry furrow. IvLRr was higher in the plots to be fumigated than the plots that were not to be fumigated for all depths and locations except at a 15 cm depth over the drip lines, where the values were similar. However, after fumigation, IvLRr was lower over the drip lines at a 30 cm depth in plots that were fumigated compared to samples in a similar location and depth that were not fumigated. There were no other location/depth combinations where the fumigation reduced IvLRr below that in the nonfumigated plots. Yield in 2006, which was a very hot and dry year, was predicted adequately (R(2) = 0.67) by a linear model based on the preplant population density of R. reniformis, with a very steep slope (-2.8 kg lint/ha per R. reniformis/100 cm(3) soil). However, no relationship between nematode density and yield was seen in 2007, which had cooler weather for most of the season. Yield was not significantly improved by fumigation through the drip irrigation system in either year compared to plots treated only with aldicarb (0.84 kg a.i./ha), indicating that the level of control with fumigation did not kill enough R. reniformis to be successful.
