Investigating Chemical and Biological Control Applications for Pythium Root Rot Prevention and Impacts on Creeping Bentgrass Putting Green Rhizosphere Bacterial Communities

Abstract

Pythium root rot (PRR) is a disease that can rapidly devastate large swaths of golf course putting greens, with little recourse once symptoms appear. Golf courses routinely apply preventive fungicides for root diseases, which may alter the rhizosphere microbiome, leading to unintended effects on plant health. A multiyear field trial was initiated on a ‘T-1’ creeping bentgrass (Agrostis stolonifera L. cultivar T-1) putting green in College Park, Maryland to evaluate preventive PRR management for disease suppression and effects on rhizosphere bacterial communities. Fungicides commonly used to prevent PRR and a biological fungicide were repeatedly applied to experimental plots throughout the growing season. Rhizosphere samples were collected twice annually from each plot for evaluation of rhizosphere bacterial communities through amplicon sequencing and monitoring of biological control organism populations via quantitative PCR. Cyazofamid was the only treatment to suppress PRR in both years compared with the control. Fosetyl-Al on a 14-day interval and Bacillus subtilis QST713 also reduced PRR severity in 2019 compared with the nontreated control. Treatments did not significantly affect bacterial diversity or relative abundances of bacterial classes; however, seasonal environmental changes did. Repeated rhizosphere-targeted applications of B. subtilis QST713 appear to have established the bacterium into the rhizosphere, as populations increased between samples, even after applications stopped. These findings suggest that QST713 may reduce pathogen pressure when repeatedly applied and can reduce fungicide usage during periods of low PRR pressure.