Dataset - Alleviation of apple replant disease in sandy soils by clay amendments

Apple replant disease (ARD) threatens tree nurseries and orchards worldwide. Our data set provides insight into the effect of clay amendments on a sandy ARD soil on plant growth, root structure and plant defense responses.

Our objective was to develop a method to counteract ARD without applying chemicals to the soil. We tested if an addition of clays with high release of plant available silicon reduces ARD symptoms and a biochemical effect of silicon on the plant defense reaction occurs.

In a greenhouse experiment, apple rootstocks ‘M26’ were grown for 8 weeks in a sandy replant soil, a heat disinfected control and a grassland soil with and without amendment by bentonite and the clay blend Florisol®TM Profi (6 and 18 %). The micromorphology of silica bodies (phytoliths) in roots and the phytoalexin concentration as a measure of the defense reaction of roots were analysed. In a second approach, the gene expression of ARD biomarkers involved in phytoalexin biosynthesis was determined after two weeks.

Normalised gene expression was significantly higher for the ARD soil with clay amendments compared to the ARD variant whereas phytoalexin concentrations were similar. Significantly lower phytoalexin levels were found in the heat disinfected and Grass variants, indicating less defense reaction than in the ARD variant. Clay amendment increased soluble silicon in the substrates and consequently the epidermis and vascular bundles, which indicates high silicon accumulation. Plants grown in ARD and Grass with amendments showed improved growth compared to plants grown in the respective soils without amendments.

The amendment by clays rich in plant-available silicon may be a measure to counteract ARD symptoms.