Field research was conducted from 1990 through 1992 to evaluate the effect of the fungal pathogen, Colletotrichum coccodes, on velvetleaf intra- and interspecific (with soybean) competition across a range of monoculture and 1:1 mixture densities. In pure stand, application of this velvetleaf foliar pathogen had little impact on seed yield of the weed. In these plots, velvetleaf intraspecific competition stimulated vertical growth and favored the rapid replacement of diseased leaf tissue that had prematurely senesced. In mixtures, however, C. coccodes inoculation differentially influenced the yield of both species. In two of three years, C. coccodes inoculation reduced velvetleaf seed yields by, an average, 60% compared with yields for control (uninoculated) plants. Velvetleaf suffered greater yield losses from soybean interspecific competition in the presence of C. coccodes, especially at the lower planting densities. The decline in velvetleaf yield was primarily attributed to the stunting effect of the pathogen, which allowed soybean plants to grow above the weed. Consequently, soybean yield losses within inoculated mixture plots were generally lower than for control plots, although significant increases (23%) in soybean yield were recorded only in 1992. The inoculation treatment had relatively little impact on the number of seeds produced per fruit or seed unit weight in both species regardless of whether plants were grown in monocultures or in mixtures. The finding that C. coccodes has only a limited effect on velvetleaf performance in pure stand, while having a significantly greater effect in a competitive environment with a soybean crop, has important ramifications as to the value and accuracy of initial efficacy testing that rates potential biocontrol agents based solely on their effect within pure stands of the target weed.
