Structural changes in the micromycete complex of soil in wheat agrocenoses depending on tillage methods

The sustainable phytosanitary condition of agroecosystems is largely determined by maintaining healthy soils. One of the priority tasks in their improvement is phytosanitary monitoring and diagnostics for groups of harmful and beneficial soil microorganisms. The purpose of the current study was to estimate the mycological composition of soil in winter wheat agrocenoses depending on various tillage methods and the impact on the dynamics of pathogenic and suppressive microbiota. The work has been done to identify the correlation between the applied agrotechnical methods and the formation of soil fungal communities, which is important for optimizing strategies to manage the phytosanitary state of agroecosystems. The study was conducted at the experimental base of the Federal State Budgetary Scientific Institution «Federal Research Center of Biological Plant Protection», Krasnodar in 2022–2024. There have been analyzed soil samples taken from the plots of the winter wheat variety ‘Alekseich’ after subsoil and moldboard plowing. The results have shown that different types of tillage likely affect the number and structure of microbial communities. It is important to mention that agroclimatic conditions during the study period could also significantly affect the dynamics of the number of micromycetes. At all stages of the study, the number of suppressive fungi was insignificant to have a noticeable effect on the reduction of phytopathogenic fungi. The conclusions in the paper are preliminary and require reproducibility of the trials in order to identify stable patterns of the effect of agrotechnical measures on the dynamics of microbial community development. The study has emphasized the necessity to manage pathogenic and saprotrophic soil microbiota in order to reduce phytopathogenic pressure and increase the stability of agrocenoses.