Impacts of Biofumigation and Anaerobic Soil Disinfestation in Strawberry Production. 
Wheeler, J., D. E. Deyton, D. M. Butler, F. Louws, and C. E. Sams.  2015.  HortScience, 50:S54. This paper won the SRASHS graduate student poster award at the 2015 meeting.

Abstract:
Due to the phase-out of methyl bromide, there is a need for alternative, non-chemical fumigation treatments in strawberry production. Anaerobic soil disinfestation and biofumigation are two alternative fumigation methods that have shown success as non-chemical based alternatives. Biofumigation treatments with Brassica seed meals have been found to increase fruit yield in strawberry production compared to other alternative fumigation methods, such as green manure application. Anaerobic treatment yields have been found to be equivalent to those of Pic-Chlor 60 under certain anaerobic soil disinfestation conditions. Combining both methods may lead to an increase in yield while increasing fumigation benefits. A trial was conducted with 11 pre-plant soil-incorporated treatments arranged in a randomized complete block design with 6 rows (blocks).The biofumigation treatments consisted of deactivated mustard meal, deoiled mustard meal, mustard pellets, and Biofence mustard seed meal. Other treatments included dried molasses as a carbon source for an anaerobic treatment, and a Basamid® chemical treatment. Additional combination treatments of deactivated mustard meal and molasses, deoiled mustard meal and molasses, molasses and soybean meal (to lower amendment C:N ratio), were also applied as well as a control with no treatment. Harvested fruit were counted, weighed, and graded into marketable and non-marketable categories. Total, marketable, and non-marketable yields for each treatment were then compared using mixed model analysis of variance (Glimmix procedure, SAS Institute, Cary, NC) and least squares means were compared with ten orthogonal contrasts of scientific interest. Plants treated with Basamid® had an average yield of 228 g/plant but were not different statistically from those treated with the combination of the biofumigation treatment with deoiled mustard meal and anaerobic soil disinfestation with molasses (184 g/plant; P>0.05). Plants in the control plot in which no treatment was added produced the lowest overall yield (134 g/plant). Plants treated with Basamid® had the overall largest yield of non-marketable fruit (85 g/plant). Plants treated with Basamid® (143 g/plant) and those in the combination treatment of deoiled meal and molasses (110 g/plant) were not different statistically in marketable commercial yield (P>0.05). The plants treated with the biofumigation treatment of mustard pellets provided the largest overall marketable yield among the single source alternative methods (113 g/plant) tested. However, the Basamid® treated plants had a larger marketable yield by contrast than all other single source biofumigation treatment plots combined for contrast (P<0.05). The combination treatment of the biofumigation treatment of deoiled mustard meal and the anaerobic soil disinfestation treatment with molasses can provide a comparable marketable yield as the chemical treatment Basamid®. Future work will evaluate pathogen and soil nutrient dynamics affecting productivity in these alternative soil disinfestation treatments.