Greenhouse solarization: effects on soil microbiological parameters and agronomic aspects

The aim of this work is to study three soil solarizing film's (EVA, COE and BIO) effects on microbial biomass and their respiration activities and beside on some agronomic traits of tomato and melon as subsequent vegetable crop cultivation on solarized soil. The responses are that the used films increased different temperature levels in the soil; in fact, in the upper soil depth, BIO film, during the 37 days of solarization treatments, reached 137 h in which the recorded temperatures went over 60 degrees C, followed by EVA film with 80 h and COE film with 60 h affecting variously the thermic regime. The used films had great effects on all microbiological (MBC and MBN) and enzymatic parameters (alkaline phosphatase, acid phosphatase, P-glucosidase and arilsulphatase). Furthermore, the variation of root-knot nematodes (Meloidogyne javanica) on tomato and melon roots were assessed and some qualitative and yield traits of both vegetable crops were also reported as affected by soil solarization treatments. In all cases the BIO film has showed comparable yield results with EVA and COE films, with the advantage that it is compatible for a more sustainable agriculture practice. (c) 2007 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.