Effects of management practices on nematode and fungus populations and cucumber yield.

Three crops of cucumber were grown in succession in beds by use of trickle irrigation, plastic film mulch, and soil chemical treatments over a 17-month period, including a fallow winter season. Total yield for the three crops was highest (1208 quintals/ha) in film-mulched plots treated with MBR-CP, and next-highest in film-mulched plots treated with DD-MENCS (1094 quintals/ha); total yield was only 456 quintals/ha in film-mulched control (untreated) plots. Yield in untreated film-mulched plots was 256% of that in untreated unmulched plots (178 quintals/ha). Plant growth and yields were greatest when populations of nematodes and soil-borne fungi were suppressed to very low levels. The residual control by soil treatments lasted longest on Meloidogyne incognita and Fusarium solani.