Evaluation of the soil ecological measure for overcoming replant disorder of strawberry

Abstract

The objective of this study was to overcome strawberry replant disorder by improving the ecological environment of the soil. Replanted strawberry soil was treated using an ecological technique (soil ecological optimisation technique, SEOT), a fermented biofertilizer which consists of cow dung, straw, antagonistic actinomycetes, and solar disinfection measure commonly used in strawberry production was used as a control. The results revealed the changes in the soil micro-ecological environment after the ecological technique treatment. The microbial population was increased to plentiful levels in the soil and the ratio of bacteria plus acti-nomycetes to fungal strains increased markedly. The former group became the dominant species in the soil. At the same time, soil aeration, oxygen content, porosity, water holding capacity, pH value and mineral contents were all improved compared with the control. Thus, the leaf photosynthesis and the root growth exhibited clear improvement. The growth and development of the strawberry plants proceeded normally in later periods. The ratio of high quality fruits was increased by 31.43%, while the yield increased by 40%, and the picking period was extended. These findings demonstrated that the applied ecological optimisation measure (SEOT) was effective in overcoming strawberry replant disorder, mainly due to improve the environment of rhizosphere soil, particularly increasing the soil permeability and the oxygen content.