Crop protection

Pythium in hydroponics
can be tackled

Pythium can cause serious damage to the crop.

Pythium is among one of the worst soil-borne diseases all over the world, both in soil and in closed systems. This is even
more so in warmer climates, where the nutrient solution temperature goes up in summer, causing plant stress. Brazilian
researchers are developing methods for crop protection based on ozone, antagonists or silicon.
By Mauricio Mathias,
mauriciomathias@hotmail.com

very summer the story repeats itself, be it hydroponics, NFT or substrate, part of the salads production is lost to Pythium and other diseases. As
temperature goes up, production and quality goes
down, while prices go up. Suppliers scramble to secure
produce only to find out almost everybody has the same
problem. Even as most vegetable-producing zones in
Brazil are in cooler zones around urban centers, summers are still a problem. If it isnt the heat its the rain,
or more commonly both combined.
NFT, practiced in Brazil in plastic gullies, almost exclusively for leafy vegetables, initially gave a welcomed
break from such field-production problems - especially
in the first harvests, where systems were new. With time
however, the promise of sterile production faded away
with recirculation issues and the lack of a thorough disinfection protocol between crops. Even though rain is
Fruit & Veg Tech 9.2 2009

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not a problem under plastic shelters, the high temperature can cause serious problems.

Genetics
One would assume that for such a widespread problem,
resistance would have been incorporated at least into
the main leafy vegetables by now. Not so easily done,
explains Dr. Cyro P. da Costa, a retired vegetable breeding professor at the University of So Paulo, and still
active in the breeding business. First off we have to
understand that Pythium is a so called Chromista organism, that is, an organism in between an algae and fungi,
greatly adapted to the water environment. Its an opportunistic pathogen that takes advantage of favourable
factors such as temperature above 25oC in NFT. It is
highly dependent on nutrient-solution temperature.
Dr. Costa continues: In the range between 20C and
30

Crop protection
25C, it causes sub-clinic symptoms. These look like
nutrient deficiencies, and can be overcome with foliar
sprayings. Above that solution temperature is the range
that distinguishes how each variety behaves in terms of
tolerance. Above 30oC, tolerance disappears since host
physiological stress predisposes it to susceptibility, and
Pythium opportunistically sets in. We work with these
premises in our breeding programme. However, its
hard to generalise this issue since it involves ambient
factors such as lack of O2 in the solution and root system physiological stress. Even though a couple of companies have even been ruined because of Pythium in
summer, to blame it on genetics alone is a half-truth.
The diagnosis is related to temperature, something not
every grower knows, especially if they can get by with
foliar sprayings at its onset.

If the roots start to rot Pythium can

attack the plant.

Ozone
Disinfecting the nutrient solution with ozone has
increased lately among NFT growers, since its continuous recirculation only spread the problem. Alberto
Valdameri, from Ozone Engenharia, a supplier of ozone
generators in southern Brazil, explains that ozone is a
wide-spectrum disinfectant that acts on bacteria and
fungi, and with an on-site electronic generator it
doesnt have to be stored or transported. Ozone is a
known cleaning agent used in other fields so his company has partnerships with five universities to study
other application potentials.
Senior consultant and advisor Raul Vergueiro is a believer of ozone treatment and of high oxygenation. With his
project designer experience he looks at the angle of prevention: Its essential to keep the solution well-oxygenated. Normally water has 10 ppm of oxygen, but nowadays it is feasible to reach 40 ppm, what we call hyperoxygenation. Presently if a project is well designed it can
reach 90% of oxygenation, which is enough for salads,
but not for fruit vegetables, such as tomatoes. But under
the current conditions of most growers, they hardly
achieve 60% at the start of the NFT gullies, and 40% or
less at its end. With low oxygen, roots become impermeable and dont absorb water, and consequently nutrients. Thats not all though: If this continues, roots
start to rot, which is extremely favourable to Pythium.
But a healthy plant doesnt let the fungus develop,
although it is always present in every NFT system.

Careful application
According to the advisor, seeds and water should be
sterilised, and ozone is the best way to do it, but ideally
the nutrient solution should be highly oxygenated as
well. However, like everything else, ozone has a downside. It requires careful application. Ozone causes the
oxidation of metals in the solution; the resulting oxides
precipitate and thus are not available to the plants anymore. Chelated metals do not precipitate quickly with

An ozone treatment of the water

results in a healthy crop with active
roots.

Pythium can be prevented by

sanitation and the right fertilisation.

ozone though, since the reaction starts with the organic

part of the molecule, destroying it, and only then getting to the metal. When it does, these nutrients have to
be replaced more frequently, but its better to spend
more on fertilisers than to lose a crop. The right thing
is to have ozone for water cleaning, and nutrient solution disinfection when its going to be re-used, but use
of high oxygen in the solution in contact with the
plants, or hyper-oxygen if possible. Another ozone
shortcoming is the destruction of beneficial microorganisms as well, he says. Other cleaning options are
the use of chemicals such as iodine, chlorine and hydrogen peroxide, which all have residue issues to be contended with, while sand filtration, ultra-violet light and
heat treatment are safer in that respect.

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Crop protection

Sanitation and fertigation

Pythium may get into greenhouses by contaminated soil and water, or substrates, especially peat-based ones. Insects such as shore flies and fungus
gnats also bring it in. Root-burning by fertilisers, crop-protection chemicals
or cleaning products residues can become entryways for diseases. A balanced nutrition, with sufficient levels of Ca and B, avoiding excess N is a
good prevention measure. And so are leveled benches and gullies to avoid
water pooling, since stagnant water heat up faster, becoming oxygendepleted. Needless to say, avoiding mechanical injuries and diseases in
general - Pythium commonly sets in as a secondary infection.
Being a generalist pathogen and unspecific to their hosts, Pythium causes
root rot in a number of plant species. Thus the use of crop rotation or fallowing in fields are not enough, and since Pythium spp. are also good
saprotrophs, they remain for a long time on decaying matter left in unclean
gullies.
The use of liquid silicon (Si) as potassium silicate (K2SiO3) has been another
preventive measure used by growers, and since it is soluble it can be
applied either as a foliar spray, injected into fertigation for soil-grown
plants or in the NFT nutrient solution. The effects of silicon in plant physiology are several, ranging from regulating transpiration and drought resistance to increased production of phenolic substances that are toxic to pathogens. The results are physical and chemical barriers that help plants deal
with stress, including diseases. Consequently it functions as a type of vaccine, as it were, against stress, decreasing the occurrence of Tip Burn and
Bitter Pit in lettuce.

Prevention
Another approach to the same problem was studied by
biologist Felipe Baptista, who did his MSc. thesis
assessing the use of beneficial micro-organisms
against Pythium in NFT-grown lettuce. The trial showed
promising results to control root rot caused by Pythium
middletonii and P. dissotocum using a Trichoderma-based
commercial product. Felipe Baptista says it stimulated
disease control and also root-growth in two lettuce
varieties, but its necessary to use it preventively before the disease shows up. He mentions a highly
significant variety-specific effect for disease absence
and product effectiveness, whereas a product excess
can be detrimental to plant growth.
Today we can better understand how well-adapted
Pythium is to NFT, where they find ideal conditions for
survival and development, with its spores being dispersed by the water flow. Other factors change plant
physiology, cause stress and increase the disease, such
as unbalanced nutrient solution and changes in solution pH and EC, and temperature. As control measures, a thorough disinfection between crops is recommended, since commercial demands dont always allow
it, he suggests using an extra set of gullies to replace
the bench being cleaned.
Its also important to separate the seedlings from the
main crop since young roots are the most susceptible
phase. Trichoderma products are also licensed for other
pathogens, while researchers looked into Clonostachys
too as a beneficial micro-organism - with successful
results. n
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