Deb Neher: Biological Indicators and Compost for Managing Plant Disease

Compost is a controlled aerobic biological process that follows a trajectory of ecological succession and offers ecosystem services beyond fertility and carbon sequestration. As a living entity, compost is a substrate to disseminate consortia of microbes to soil that can promote plant growth by tipping the balance between pathogens and natural antagonists. Not all composts are created equal. Both recipe and compost process are manageable factors that affect the community ecology and can make the difference between reducing or exacerbating disease. Development of consistent products with disease suppressive properties demands a better understanding of ecology and mechanisms, so we get the right players and mechanisms. With a better understanding, we can learn the pivotal points where compost can be managed to enhance disease suppressiveness.

Deborah (“Deb”) Neher, Ph.D. is a professor in the Department of Plant and Soil Science at the University of Vermont. She is a soil ecologist, and her recent research focuses on biological communities in compost and their role in disease suppression by natural mechanisms. Dr. Neher has 30+ years of experience as a researcher, educator, and graduate student mentor. She has published more than 95 peer-reviewed articles and 24 book chapters on biological indicators of soil, ecotoxicology, and biotechnology risk assessment, climate change and soil biological crusts, and plant pathology and sustainable agriculture. Prior to the University of Vermont, she held faculty positions at the University of Toledo and North Carolina State University.

Deb spoke with UVM on February 4th, 2022. Read more about Deb: https://www.uvm.edu/cals/pss/profiles/professor-deborah-neher

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