Tiling fields, which is common in Ohio, greatly helps to limit the length of time that soils remain wet. This disease management practice is especially important to limit the amount of time infections can take place for moisture-loving pathogens including Phytophthora, Pythium, Phialophora, and Fusarium.
This production practice has been an essential component in preventing soybean pathogens from building up in soils to very high levels. This practice maintains the crop productivity of fields over a longer period of time. Monocropping will result in the buildup of pathogens and yields will decline. By alternating crops for three (optimum) or two years, most pathogen populations decline. This is especially true for pathogens like the soybean cyst nematode and Sclerotinia. Crop rotation is one of the most effective disease management tools available to the grain producer.
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Keith L. Smith, Associate Vice President for Ag. Adm. and Director, OSU Extension.
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