Harnessing the Turfgrass Microbiome for Sustainable Disease Control

Disease suppressive soils are soils that prevent or reduce the severity of soilborne plant diseases, even when pathogens and susceptible hosts are present. This suppression is primarily achieved by a diverse community of beneficial soil microbes, or the soil microbiome, that compete with or directly antagonize pathogens. This presentation will introduce the idea of microbiomes and different ways we can take advantage of beneficial microbes in the overall microbial community. The attendees will learn how the turfgrass microbiome affects disease development and how fungicide selection affects disease development through alteration of the microbiome. By understanding these mechanisms, the attendees will gain insights into how they potentially harness the power of the microbiome through careful fungicide selection. This presentation will introduce strategies that could potentially improve long-term disease suppression while reducing the financial cost and environmental impact for the superintendent.