Chinese cabbage is a popular leafy vegetable widely consumed in Asian cuisine, particularly in China. However, it is susceptible to various diseases, including clubroot and black sesame spot, which can significantly impact yield and quality. The soil environment plays a crucial role in developing these two diseases. In our experiment, we measured eight soil indicators-soil pH, organic matter, alkali-hydrolyzable nitrogen, available phosphorus, rapidly available potassium, total salinity, total nitrogen, and slowly available potassium-across 38 cabbage-growing locations in Jiaozhou County, China. We compared the soil environments of disease-infested and non-infested sites. Our results indicated that no significant association was found between the measured soil variables and observed clubroot incidence. However, there is a significant association between acidic soils with low available phosphorus and a higher incidence of black sesame spot. Overall, our study provides a comprehensive understanding of how the soil environment affects the occurrence of clubroot and black sesame spot, offering valuable insights for the integrated management of these challenging cabbage diseases.
Chi et al. (2026) studied this question.