Seasonal Variation in Numbers of Chlamydospores in Victorian Forest Soils Infected With Phytophthora cinnamomi

Abstract

Chlamydospore numbers were counted for 2 years on replicated soil samples from three different types of naturally infected Victorian native forest. Soil temperatures and soil water potentials were recorded concurrently. A highly significant seasonal variation in chlamydospore numbers was observed with maxima from summer to autumn and minima from winter to spring. There was little variation either between replicates or between different forest soils in winter and spring counts, but there was highly significant variation between different forest sites during the large summer and autumn counts. At this period sandy soil contained five to 12 times the number of chlamydo- spores found in other soils. For example, in autumn 1977,286 chlamydospores were recorded per 50 g sample from deep sandy soils compared with 31 for krasnozem and 17 for shallow duplex soils. At this period soil temperatures were similar but the soil water potential for the duplex soil was very low (-82 bars).