Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
in diseased soils in geographic regions with hot temperatures and irrigated
agricultural systems (Stapleton and DeVay, 1995). Soil solarization is an
environment friendly, nonpesticidal and hydrothermal process that occurs
in moist soil when the soil is covered by plastic film, heated by exposure
to sunlight (Stapleton, 2000). Solarization is considered a preventive, or-
ganic method of killing weed seeds and soil pathogens. Solarization (also
referred to as solar heating of the top soil) is a method of soil disinfes-
tations, first described by Katan and co-workers (1976) for controlling
pathogens and weeds. Solarization is often as effective as herbicides, fu-
migants, other potentially hazardous and expensive pest control methods.
Soil solarization effects are not limited to soil biota, changes in soil chem-
istry involving nutrient availability, as well as other changes, such as soil
salinity, soil structure, soil organic matter content (Chen et al., 2000). The
physical, chemical and biological principles of soil solarization as well as
commercial implementation have been well documented in the literature.
The effects of solarization have been investigated for many horticultural
fruit crops including apple (Sharma et al., 2011a), mango (Sharma et al.,
2011b) and citrus (Sharma et al., 2011c). Polyethylene mulching was also
a well-known practice that was used to increase the productivity of crops
by manipulating the environment to enhance plant growth and develop-
ment processes.
The effectiveness of solarization depends on how susceptible weed
seeds are to temperature, and also an effective practice able to control
nematodes, even though it may cause serious stress on the soil microbial
community. Soil solarization is most effective against winter annual weeds
that germinate under cool conditions (Elmore, 1990). Soil solarization is
most effective during the summer months, less effective in cooler climates
and competitively more effective in wet soils (DeVay, 1990). The higher
the ambient temperature, the more quickly a kill is achieved. Solarization
is reported to control parasitic weeds and certain annuals, but it is not ef-
fective against perennials (Jacobsohn, et al. 1980).
12.2
PRACTICAL UTILITY OF SOIL SOLARIZATION
Soil solarization is cost-effectiveness practice in which a transparent poly-
ethylene sheet is the main material used and presents no dangerous or
hazardous substances to surrounding plants or people (Stapleton and De
