Survival of Pseudomonas solanacearum biovars 2 and 3 in soil: effect of moisture and soil type

Abstract The survival of Pseudomonas solanacearum biovars 2 and 3 in three soils, a Nambour clay loam, a Beerwah sandy loam and a Redland Bay clay, was compared at pressure potentials of −0.003, −0.05 and −0.15 kPa. The soils were inoculated with mutants of P. solanacearum biovars 2 and 3, resistant to 2000 μg streptomycin sulphate ml −1 and their survival measured every 6 weeks for 86 weeks in the clay loam and clay and for 52 weeks in the sandy loam. Soil populations declined with the initial drying necessary to bring the soil moisture to the specific pressure potentials; the initial counts for biovar 2 varied between 0.20 and 2.00 × 10 9 cfu g −1 soil and for biovar 3 between 0.17 and 1.29 × 10 9 cfu g −1 soil. The population decline in soil maintained at a constant pressure potential was expressed as the rate of population decline. Biovar 2 declined more rapidly than biovar 3. The rate of population decline of each biovar at −0.003 and −0.05 kPa was greater in clay loam than in sandy loam and at all pressure potentials it was greater in clay loam and sandy loam than in clay. There was also a tendency for the rate of population decline of both biovars to decrease in the drier soil treatments.