Abstract
Compost tea is an attractive method to control diseases on many occasions. Because the main mechanism by which compost tea suppresses a disease is biological, the fermentation temperature of making compost tea is a very important factor for obtaining better efficacy of disease suppression. In this study, the influence of compost tea fermentation temperature on the efficacy of suppression against cucumber powdery mildew was investigated. Our results clearly indicate that compost teas were greatly influenced by fermentation temperature, and its efficacy was found to be greatest at 30－40 ℃. A different suppression mechanism might exist at 10 ℃ fermentation temperature. The 2 species of fungi isolated from compost teas were Mortierella sp. and Mucor sp., and disease suppression mechanisms might be different in these 2 species. Further study is needed to understand the mechanisms of disease suppression by compost teas.
