Impact of Crop Rotation on Pathotype and Genetic Structure of Phythophthora sojae in Fields

To estimate the impact of crop rotation on the pathotype and genetic structure of Phythophthora sojae in fields, 372 isolates of P. sojae were obtained from long-term localisation experimental fields in Heilongjiang Province of China. The hypocotyl inoculation method was used to characterize the virulence of P. sojae on 13 differential cultivars, and the amplified fragment length polymorphism (AFLP) technique was used to analyze difference in the genetic structure of P. sojae. The results indicated that an abundant diversity of genetic structures and pathotypes of P. sojae, a more uniform distribution of pathotypes and less dominance of pathotypes occurred in corn-soybean and wheat-soybean rotation fields than in a continuous soybean mono-cropping field. These findings suggested that P. sojae did not easily become the dominant race in rotation fields, which maintain disease resistance in soybean varieties. Therefore, the results of this study suggested that Phytophthora stem and root rot of soybeans could be effectively controlled by rotating soybeans with non-host crops of corn and wheat.