Faculty
Science
Supervisor Name
Dr. Mark Bernards
Keywords
ginseng, GRD, ginseng replant disease, microbiome, solarization
Description
American ginseng (Panax quinquefolius) is a highly valued perennial crop grown for its roots during a four-year cultivation cycle. American ginseng is subject to ginseng replant disease (GRD) in which severe root rot develops in newly planted ginseng grown in a former ginseng garden. A common strategy to mitigating GRD is not available and techniques such as fumigation, fungicides, and biocontrol are ineffective, banned, or are slowly being phased out. Alternatively, soil solarization is a pre-plant technique used to treat soil to reduce disease inoculum and alter soil microbiomes. In summer 2019, a six-week soil solarization experiment was conducted in a former ginseng garden using 24 randomized-plot design comparing solarization duration (zero, two, four, six weeks). In this study, a microbiome analysis was conducted using DNA extracted from solarized ginseng garden soils to determine whether soil solarization altered the microbiome in a former ginseng garden.
Acknowledgements
Funding acknowledgement: Summer support for AC was provided through the Western Undergraduate Summer Research Internship (WUSRI) program. Funding for the solarization project was provided by the following agencies: Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council (NSERC), Ontario Ginseng Growers Association (OGGA), and Canadian Agricultural Partnership (CAP).
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 License.
Document Type
Poster
Included in
Agricultural Science Commons, Bioinformatics Commons, Biology Commons, Plant Pathology Commons
A Bacterial Microbiome Analysis of Solarized Ginseng Garden Soils
American ginseng (Panax quinquefolius) is a highly valued perennial crop grown for its roots during a four-year cultivation cycle. American ginseng is subject to ginseng replant disease (GRD) in which severe root rot develops in newly planted ginseng grown in a former ginseng garden. A common strategy to mitigating GRD is not available and techniques such as fumigation, fungicides, and biocontrol are ineffective, banned, or are slowly being phased out. Alternatively, soil solarization is a pre-plant technique used to treat soil to reduce disease inoculum and alter soil microbiomes. In summer 2019, a six-week soil solarization experiment was conducted in a former ginseng garden using 24 randomized-plot design comparing solarization duration (zero, two, four, six weeks). In this study, a microbiome analysis was conducted using DNA extracted from solarized ginseng garden soils to determine whether soil solarization altered the microbiome in a former ginseng garden.