Rhizosphere studies
Data in Table (4) show a drastic, sharp reduction in fungal and bacterial counts after furfural and Basamid application.
The decline in fungal propagules reduced from 178.66 down to (11.74-14.57) and 9.83x103 cfu/g soil and from 187.34 down to (14.31-16.24) and 18.40 x 106 cfu/g soil for bacterial cells. During the growing season it was noticed that the total counts of fungi and bacteria in the rhizosphere of potato plants increased as plants grew up reaching their maximum at harvest time where no significant differences were observed between treatments and control.
Data also show that the average total fungal counts were higher in furfural treatments than those of fungicide throughout the growing season, while the opposite feature was observed regarding bacterial counts.
Another conclusion may be drawn from the fact that the microorganism counts curve showing fungal population of the rhizosphere in furfural treatments were almost a mirror image of those representing bacterial counts in fungicide treatments.