Novel soil fumigation strategy suppressed plant-parasitic nematodes associated with soil nematode community alterations in the field

- Plant-parasites suppression plays key role to ensure healthy banana production.
- Fumigation based on ammonium bicarbonate was efficient to reduce plant-parasites.
- Fumigation exhibited stable suppression ability on total nematodes.
- Fumigation altered soil physicochemical properties and nematode community.
- Novel soil fumigation can increase banana growth and yield in the field.

Banana production is severely hindered by plant-parasitic nematodes worldwide. In this study, a novel fumigation agent based on lime and ammonium bicarbonate (LAB) was evaluated as a strategy for controlling plant-parasitic nematodes by altering the soil nematode community. The results revealed that LAB fumigation altered the soil nematode community in a banana monoculture system, showing stable suppression ability (P < 0.05) of total nematodes and plant-parasites, especially Rotylenchulus, after both fumigation and harvest as well as for plant parasites in roots after harvest (P < 0.05). LAB fumigation significantly (P < 0.05) reduced the maturity index (MI); increased the ratio of plant-parasitic index and maturity index (PPI/MI), Shannon index H' and evenness index J in a short period; and improved the soil pH, NH4+-N, NO3−-N and TON contents. Redundancy analysis showed that the fumigated soil (LAB) was dominated by Acrobeles, which was positively correlated with soil pH, while in the control (CKCM), nematode genera after the harvest was dominated by Rotylenchulus, Helicotylenchus, Criconema and Tylenchorhynchus, which were negatively correlated with soil pH. Variance partitioning analysis determined that LAB altered the soil nematode community by affecting soil bacteria, fungi and physicochemical properties after fumigation. The application of LAB also showed a 15% increase in banana yield compared to the control. In conclusion, the novel soil fumigation strategy based on LAB is a potentially effective strategy to suppress plant-parasitic nematode damage in the field, especially for acidic and sandy soils.