Protection methods

- During cultivation

No control method makes it possible to control this disease during cultivation.

At the end of the crop, it is quite common to bury crop residues in the soil. The buried plant tissues are abundantly colonized by Verticillium dahliae which produces numerous microsclerotia there. The elimination of plants limits this phenomenon and helps to reduce the inoculum left in the plots.


- Next crop

Tools used in contaminated plots should be thoroughly cleaned before being used in other still healthy plots. It is the same for the wheels of tractors. Careful rinsing of this material with water will often suffice to rid it of soil and Verticillium dahliae .

The crop rotations will prevent or delay the onset of this disease. To be effective, they will be long enough and will not involve sensitive crops such as tomato, eggplant, potato ... The fight against certain weeds, such as black nightshade and amaranth, will have to be taken. into account. Monocots and especially cereals do not seem to be affected by this vascular fungus.

Disinfection of the soil with a fumigant will not be necessary in the context of a salad crop. It is only very relatively efficient and its cost can be high. The solar disinfection of soil, recommended to fight against other soil fungi as Thanatephorus cucumeris (Rhizoctonia solani ), reduces the incidence of Verticillium dahliae on cotton. It may be the same with salads. Immersion of contaminated plots would help limit the number of microsclerotia present in the soil, by reducing the quantity of oxygen available and increasing the quantity of CO ₂ . This measure does not appear to reduce the incidence of the disease sufficiently to be adopted. The remaining propagules are sufficient for Verticillium dahliae to develop on its host.

The most effective solution would be to use resistant varieties. A partial resistance exists among some lettuce cultivars; it is not yet well identified.


NB: The legislation on pesticides evolving very quickly, we advise you to consult the e-phy site of the Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries which is an online catalog of plant protection products and their uses, fertilizers and culture media approved in France. This also applies to all biological products based on microorganisms or natural substances.