The use of soil solarization for the control of bacterial wilt, caused by Ralstonia solanacearum, was evaluated by burrowing nylon bags containing soil infested with the bacteria in plots solarized or not. Two experiments were carried out in Campinas (SP), from February to April/2001, and Piracicaba (SP), from December/2001 to February/2002. The experiments were set up in a completely randomized factorial design, with four replications, in 4 x 4 meter plots. The factors evaluated were soil solarization with a transparent plastic film 100 µm thick, period of treatment (30 and 60 days and 37 and 60 days for the first and second experiments, respectively) and, only for the second experiment, soil depth (10 and 20 cm). The soil of each nylon bag collected after the previously established solarization periods, was placed in pots where tomato (Lycopersicon esculentum) seedlings were transplanted. In the non-solarized soil, in both experiments, 43 to 100% of the tomato plants wilted. In the second experiment, 6 to 22% of the plants grown on the soil solarized for 37 days wilted. No wilted tomato plants were observed in the solarized plots of the first experiment nor in the soil solarized for 60 days, in both soil depths, of the second experiment. The results obtained indicate that soil solarization has potential for the control of R. solanacearum.
bacterial wilt; tomato; Lycopersicon esculentum
