The establishment of the harmful pathogen Fusarium graminearum in different agroecosystems may strongly depend on the ability of the soils to suppress its development and survival. This study aimed to evaluate the influence of different soil tillage systems (i.e., conventional tillage, reduced tillage and no-tillage) on soil fungistasis against F. graminearum. Soil samples were collected three times during the plant growing season in 2016 and 2017 from a long-term, 20-year soil tillage experiment. The F. graminearum in the soil samples was quantified by real-time qPCR. The soil fungistasis was evaluated by the reduction in the radial growth of F. graminearum in an in vitro assay. The antagonistic activity of the soil bacteria was tested using the dual culture method. The F. graminearum DNA contents in the soils were negatively correlated with soil fungistasis (r = -0.649 *). F. graminearum growth on the unfumigated soil was reduced by 70-87% compared to the chloroform fumigated soil. After the plant vegetation renewal, the soil fungistasis intensity was higher in the conventionally tilled fields than in the no-tillage. However, no significant differences were obtained among the tillage treatments at the mid-plant growth stage and after harvesting. 23 out of 104 bacteria isolated from the soil had a moderate effect, and only 1 had a strong inhibitory effect on the growth of F. graminearum. This bacterium was assigned 100% similarity to the Bacillus amyloliquefaciens Hy7 strain (gene bank no: JN382250) according to the sequence of the 16S ribosome subunit coding gene. The results of our study suggest that the presence of F. graminearum in soil is suppressed by soil fungistasis; however, the role of tillage is influenced by other factors, such as soil biological activity, type and quantity of plant residues and environmental conditions.
Keywords: Gibberella zeae; fusarium head blight; no-tillage; suppression.