AgResearch
Browse

Cost of root disease on white clover growth in New Zealand dairy pastures

Download (491.34 kB)
journal contribution
posted on 2023-05-03, 16:29 authored by Steve Wakelin, Yeganeh Eslami, Kwaku Dake, Bryony DignamBryony Dignam, Maureen O'CallaghanMaureen O'Callaghan
The cost to clover growth of soil-borne root disease was measured in ten New Zealand dairy pasture soils. The average clover growth rate after soil pasteurisation was 28.5%, but range from 64% increase (Whataroa soil) to a decrease of 11.9% (Ruakura soil). The economic cost of reduced clover growth was determined using Farmax modelling (dairy pro). In Southland and Canterbury, clover root disease is estimated to cost $750 and $715 ha-1 year-1 respectively, and in the Waikato region $1506 ha-1 year-1. DNA-based testing of the soils detected the presence of diverse fungal, Oomycete and nematode pathogen populations. A significant linear relationship was found between reduction in clover growth and group f Pythium spp. (P=0.0177). The DNA-based assay indicated that Aphanomyces trifolii, a root pathogen of subterranean clover, maybe present in the dairy-pasture soils. As this pathogen is currently not recognised as present in New Zealand, a definitive determination of its presence is required. Based on the high economic costs, the control of soil-borne root pathogens in New Zealand pastures is a direct means to increase profitability.

History

Rights statement

© The Author(s) 2016. Open Access. This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license, and indicate if changes were made.

Language

  • English

Does this contain Māori information or data?

  • No

Publisher

Springer

Journal title

Australasian Plant Pathology

ISSN

0815-3191

Citation

Wakelin, S. A., Eslami, Y., Dake, K., Dignam, B. E. A., & O’Callaghan, M. (2016). Cost of root disease on white clover growth in New Zealand dairy pastures. Australasian Plant Pathology, 45(3), 289–296. doi:10.1007/s13313-016-0411-x

Funder

Ministry of Business Innovation & Employment

Contract number

A20192

Job code

294057

Usage metrics

    Exports

    RefWorks
    BibTeX
    Ref. manager
    Endnote
    DataCite
    NLM
    DC