Evaluating Anaerobic Soil Disinfestation and Other Biological Soil Management Methods for Open-Field Tomato Production in Florida.

Anaerobic soil disinfestation (ASD), amending the soil with composted poultry litter (CPL) and molasses (M), has been shown to be a potential alternative to chemical soil fumigation for tomato production, however, optimization of ASD and the use of other biologically-based soil management practices still needs to be explored. A field study was conducted in Citra, FL in fall 2016, comparing ASD and other biological soil management treatments with an untreated control (UTC) and a chemical soil fumigated control (CSF; Pic-Clor 60 at 224 kg/ha). The six biological soil treatments included: ASD with 11 Mg/ha CPL and 6.9 m³/ha M, modified ASD treatments with composted yard trimming waste at 26.9 Mg/ha and M (YTW1+M) or 13.5 Mg/ha (YTW0.5+M), Soil Symphony Amendments (SSA, Terra Feed, LLC) at 816 kg ha^-1, YTW1 only at 26.9 Mg/ha, and a combination treatment of YTW1 and SSA. The SSA treatment consisted of a pre-plant application of a propriety organic amendment mix (816 kg/ha), chitosan, M, and bacteria, and of repeated applications by fertigation with M once a week, and chitosan and Bacillus spp. once a month after planting. All treatments received 5 cm of initial irrigation after polyethylene mulching except UTC, CSF, and SSA. All plots were treated with the herbicide fomesafen before polyethylene mulch application. The tomato plant root-knot nematode galling index ratings were significantly lower in CSF, ASD, YTW1+M, and YTW0.5+M compared to UTC. The ASD, YTW1+M, YTW0.5+M, and CSF treatments exhibited significantly greater plant leaf and stem biomass compared to UTC. All soil treatments demonstrated lower foliar disease severity in comparison with UTC. ASD, YTW1+M, and CSF had significantly higher marketable and total fruit yields than UTC. Tomato fruit quality attributes including soluble solid content and titratable acidity did not differ significantly among soil treatments and controls.