Work

Short-Term Effects of Cover Crop Rotation on Soilborne Pathogens of Winter Wheat in Traditional Crop–Fallow Systems

Year: 2025

Type: article

Abstract: Management of soilborne diseases is challenging in the winter wheat production system of the inland Pacific Northwest due to the lack of effective management options and increased adoption of no-till practices. To determine whether cover crops (CCs) could be a viable management tool for winter wheat soilborne disease in no-till dryland winter wheat systems, a 4-site-year study was conducted in northeastern Oregon under low and intermediate annual precipitation regimes. The treatments included three fall-planted CCs (winter lentil, winter pea, and fall mix), six spring-planted CCs (common vetch, phacelia, spring barley, tillage radish, yellow mustard, and spring mix), and a fallow control. The abundance of soilborne pathogens was quantified during the winter wheat phase following a single-year CC rotation. The abundance of soilborne pathogens varied between study sites. The CCs influenced the abundance of Fusarium pseudograminearum and Pythium clade F in crop year 2022/2023, but none significantly reduced the pathogen abundance compared with fallow. Most CCs increased Pythium clade F abundance in crop year 2022/2023 compared with fallow. There was no effect of CC on any pathogen in crop year 2021/2022. Overall, the results suggest that short-term, single-year CC rotations do not reduce the abundance of soilborne pathogens of winter wheat compared with fallow. This study highlights the need for longer-term CC studies to better understand their impacts on soilborne diseases of wheat. [Formula: see text] Copyright © 2026 The Author(s). This is an open access article distributed under the CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 International license .

Source: PhytoFrontiers™

DOI: 10.1094/phytofr-01-25-0007-r