The moisture treatments can be thought of as the irrigation frequency , or the relative dryness of the media. The 15 kPa treatments may have been watered once a day, whereas the 2.5 kPa treatment may have received water 5 times during the same day. We also indirectly measured chlorophyll, and will analyze the total nutrients in both the tissue and media. The Effect of Soil Moisture on the Biological Control of Pythium Plants grown in media that is kept too moist for long periods of time are more likely to develop root rot diseases. Many fungal plant diseases require excessively moist conditions for incubation, and proper irrigation management may help suppress the activity of a few major plant pathogens.
Pythium is an important root rot disease of greenhouse ornamental plants.
Currently at UNH were are running an experiment that evaluates how soil moisture interacts with the ability of biological controls to suppress Pythium . Biological controls are beneficial living organisms used to help manage plant disease and insect problems. Moist conditions favor the development of Pythium , and with this experiment we are trying to establish what type of conditions favor the growth of the biocontrol, and increase it's ability to suppress Pythium . Because Pythium is a root disease and will damage and weaken the root system, we will measure the weight of the dried roots to look for differences among treatments. We will also measure the fresh and dried weight of the plant tissue, because as the root systems is weakened,plant growth may also be suppressed.