ABSTRACT
Infested soils were prepared by burying them in autoclaved soil. Strawberry plants grown in the natural soil were often stunted and root-rotted. In the sterilized soil, plants grew well. The seedlings grown in the potted pasteurized soil set in the field were larger than those in the potted natural soil in size, heavier in fresh weight, and more numerous in the root number, and less in the diseased root rates. During an etiological study of strawberry stunt disease in Japan, an interesting Hyphomycetous fungus was isolated from the rhizosphere soil. The similar fungus was also isolated from the paddy field soil in Hachijo-jima, Tokyo, and Japan. The effects of the antagonists were evaluated based on the emergence, and healthy seedling rates in the soil over cultures of pathogens and antagonists in various combinations in plates, or in the infested soils, directly applied by pouring PD broth cultures of antagonists or sowing the seeds treated with antagonists.
