SOIL SOLARIZATION FOR A SUSTAINABLE MANAGEMENT OF NEMATODES AND WEEDS IN VEGETABLE CROPS IN SOUTHERN ITALY

Soil solarization has been known as an effective method for the integrated management of phytoparasitic nematodes and weeds since many years. The interest in this technique has been renewed following the withdrawal of most chemical nematicides and herbicides available on the market. This technique is particularly suitable to vegetable crop systems of Southern Italy, where summer climate is more suitable to raise soil temperatures up to values sufficiently high to cause irreversible damages to nematodes and weed seeds. The effectiveness of repeated soil solarization treatments, as well as of different solarizing materials, on root-knot nematodes, weeds and crop yield was assessed in the greenhouse studies overviewed in this work. Two different trials were carried out in plastic-greenhouse conditions at Metaponto, Southern. In the first experiment solarization was performed for one, two or three consecutive years in a soil infested by the root-knot nematode Meloidogyne javanica. In the second experiment, four different solarizing plastic materials, EVA, LDPE, ultrathin coextruded (EVA + LDPE) and corn starch-based biodegradable film, were comparatively evaluated for their solarizing effectiveness. Nonsolarized soil was used as a control in both experiments. In each trial, tomato or melon crop were carried out after the solarization treatment. Crop yield, nematode infestation parameters and weeds were recorded at the end of each crop cycle. Application of soil solarization throughout two or three consecutive years significantly increased crop yield and quality and strongly suppressed nematodes and weeds compared either to non-solarized soil and a single heating treatment. Different plastic films satisfactorily controlled root-knot nematodes and weeds and improved crop yield, with no significant differences among them. In conclusion, these studies confirmed soil solarization as an effective tool for a sustainable and cost-saving management of root-knot nematodes and weeds in greenhouse crop systems of Southern Italy. Use of ecocompatible solarizing plastic films, such as biodegradable and co-extrusive ultra-thin films can furtherly improve the environmental safety of this technique.