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Fungal associations on field-weathered plants and their role in residue decomposition

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  13 November 2009

Marion E. Simpson ,
Paul B. Marsh  and
Lawrence J. Sikora
Marion E. Simpson
Affiliation:
Microbiologists in the Soil Microbial Systems Laboratory, U.S. Department of Agriculture, Beltsville, MD 20705.
Paul B. Marsh
Affiliation:
Microbiologists in the Soil Microbial Systems Laboratory, U.S. Department of Agriculture, Beltsville, MD 20705.
Lawrence J. Sikora
Affiliation:
Microbiologists in the Soil Microbial Systems Laboratory, U.S. Department of Agriculture, Beltsville, MD 20705.
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Abstract

Basic microbiological information is presented which is relevant to an understanding of the decomposition of crop residues in conservation and conventional tillage practices. Little has been known about the role in crop residue decomposition of microbial populations that grow on dead leaves and stems of crop plants standing in the field after maturation. Even the identity of such organisms has not been thoroughly defined. Dead leaves and stems were collected from corn and from other field crop, garden, and native plants standing during weathering after maturation in fields at Beltsville, Md., and at seven other U.S. locations in the fall of 1984 and the spring of 1985. Certain “field fungi” from the genera Alternaria, Cladosporium, Fusarium, and Helminthosporium (Bipolaris) occurred as a common population growing on samples from most locations in spite of major differences in temperature and precipitation during the weathering. All fungi observed are known from the literature to be able to decompose native cellulose in pure culture. Some can grow on plant waxes. They grow poorly, if at all, in the absence of oxygen. All grow best in the presence of free water; none are true xerophytes, although some can resist wetting-drying cycles. They are mesophiles and exhibit most rapid growth at about 25–28 C. Some can survive over winter in plant tissues in cold climates. Probable relevance of these characteristics to residue decomposition in field situations is discussed.

Type
Articles
Information
American Journal of Alternative Agriculture , Volume 1 , Issue 2 , Spring 1986 , pp. 89 - 94
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1986

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