Reniform Nematode Management Using Winter Crop Rotation and Residue Incorporation Methods in Greenhouse Experiments

Rotylenchulus reniformis (reniform nematode, RN) is an important pathogen in cotton production. Cultural practices such as crop rotation and biofumigation—management of soil pathogens by biocidal compounds from crop residues—may help manage RN. The objective of this study was to evaluate the efficacy of winter crops for RN management through combinations of rotation and crop residue incorporation in a cotton greenhouse experiment. A total of 10 treatments were evaluated in soil inoculated with RN: three winter crops (carinata, oat, or hairy vetch) grown in rotation with no shoot organic matter (OM) incorporated (1–3), fresh shoot OM incorporated (4–6), or dry shoot OM incorporated (7–9), and a fallow control (10). Roots were re-incorporated in all treatments except fallow. Subsequently, cotton was grown. Oat and fallow were better rotation crops to lower soil RN abundances at winter crop termination than hairy vetch and carinata. After the OM incorporation treatments and cotton growth, oat was generally more effective at managing RN in cotton than carinata or hairy vetch. Within each crop, incorporation treatment generally did not affect RN management. Cotton growth was not consistently affected by the treatments.