Cover cropping attenuates population growth of by limiting weed biomass, despite asymptomatic colonization of cover crops.

is a fungus that causes charcoal rot in strawberry and a wide variety of crop species. Little is known about its potential to asymptomatically colonize crop plants or grow saprophytically on their tissues, both of which would create a potential for alternate, asymptomatic hosts to lead to increases in inoculum. To test the impact of cover cropping on abundance, we conducted randomized-block field experiments in soils infested by . None of the fifteen cover crop varieties showed symptoms of charcoal rot. All Fabaceae and Brassicaceae varieties were asymptomatically colonized at varying rates, but among Poaceae, was recovered from only one individual oat plant. Soil samples collected at the time of planting, tillage, and 8 weeks post-tillage showed that cover cropping attenuated the growth of relative to fallow plots harboring the weedy legume . This weed species was abundantly colonized by this pathogen in both living root samples and plant residue collected 8 weeks after tillage. Cover cropping also influenced the diversity and composition of bulk soil bacterial and fungal communities, but these effects were not associated with population density. Although was not detected in living wheat tissues, it was recovered from wheat residue, suggesting that it may be facultatively saprophytic. These results suggest that cover cropping does not pose a risk for increasing disease caused by and could be beneficial as conducive weed species, such as , are suppressed.