Abstract: Effects of compost applications on foot diseases and biomass yield of winter peas. A field experiment was conducted to assess the effects of compost applications on the growth and health of winter peas from September 2009 to May 2010. A total of 5 t DM ha-1 of a 12 month old yard waste compost were applied in plots that were either uninoculated or inoculated with Phoma medicaginis grown on infested oat kernels. The control treatment received no compost and was left uninocu-lated. Main plots received all four treatments and were replicated four times. Compost slightly reduced the incidence of Mycosphaerella pinodes and Phoma medicaginis in March and the foot disease severity in May. Overall fresh matter production was significantly reduced by inoculation. These reductions were compensated by compost applications. There was great variation among main plots in the performance of the peas. Where peas performed poorly in the controls (i.e. low fresh matter yield) com-posts improved the performance considerably. Where performance was high, there were no more additional benefits of adding compost to the system
