Anaerobic soil disinfestation: Current status of dissemination and future direction

Abstract

Since 1970s, there has been a series of studies focusing on suppression of soilborne pests under reductive conditions. Anaerobic soil disinfestation (ASD) was developed in 1999 from such studies. In these years, ASD has been used in a wide range of production systems, especially in USA and Japan, though these two countries have different kinds of needs or demands. Recent findings have suggested that ASD has advantages in both crop yield and maintenance of soil health (in terms of soil suppressiveness), in comparison with soil fumigation. Future works need to improve the efficacy of the technique under relatively low temperature conditions and to expand its applicability to soilless potting mixes.