Abstract
Seven treatments were applied (manual weeding, application of empty bunches or planting with Pueraria, Brachiaria, Acacia mangium or oil palms susceptible to or tolerant of vascular wilt) to acidic sandy clay 'Dabou savannah' soil (never previously cultivated with oil palms) either inoculated or not with 1 X 104 Fusarium oxysporum f. sp. elaeidis spores/ml. After a year, soil receptivity to oil palm vascular wilt and soil microbiological characteristics were determined. Planting the soils, irrespective of the plant species and the initial soil infestation level, tended to reduce soil receptivity to vascular wilt, bare soil being the most receptive. Compared with the bare soil control, applying empty bunches as a soil amendment reduced the receptivity of noninoculated soil and maintained that of inoculated soil. These results can be put down to modifications in fungal population densities, particularly Fusarium, and/or to differences in pathogen survival, as in the case of soil planted with Pueraria.Seven treatments were applied (manual weeding, application of empty bunches or planting with Pueraria, Brachiaria, Acacia mangium or oil palms susceptible to or tolerant of vascular wilt) to acidic sandy clay 'Dabou savannah' soil (never previously cultivated with oil palms) either inoculated or not with 1 X 104 Fusarium oxysporum f. sp. elaeidis spores/ml. After a year, soil receptivity to oil palm vascular wilt and soil microbiological characteristics were determined. Planting the soils, irrespective of the plant species and the initial soil infestation level, tended to reduce soil receptivity to vascular wilt, bare soil being the most receptive. Compared with the bare soil control, applying empty bunches as a soil amendment reduced the receptivity of noninoculated soil and maintained that of inoculated soil. These results can be put down to modifications in fungal population densities, particularly Fusarium, and/or to differences in pathogen survival, as in the case of soil planted with Pueraria.