Fungicide physical mode of action: Impacts on suppression of hop powdery mildew

Authors: CLAASSEN, BRIANA - Oregon State University; WOLFENBARGER, SIERRA - Oregon State University; Gent, David - Dave

Submitted to: Plant Disease
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 11/22/2021
Publication Date: 3/29/2022
Citation: Claassen, B.J., Wolfenbarger, S.N., Gent, D.H. 2022. Fungicide physical mode of action: Impacts on suppression of hop powdery mildew. Plant Disease. 106(6):1244-1252. https://doi.org/10.1094/pdis-10-21-2131-re.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1094/pdis-10-21-2131-re

Interpretive Summary: Fungicides are commonly used in agriculture to manage diseases of plants. Efficient management of crop diseases that both minimizes use of fungicides and provides consistent, effective control of the disease of concern is enhanced by reconciling when fungicides with certain properties are best used. We sought to develop this information for representative fungicides used in the management of powdery mildew on hop. We found that there was a wide variation in disease control provided by representative fungicides depending on when and where they were applied. Certain fungicides provided nearly complete disease control when applied before or after infection, whereas others were only effective when applied before infection. Similarly, there was large variance in disease suppression when applied to plant tissues distal to the point of infection. This research points to ways to select and use available fungicides most effectively, which could reduce ineffective and therefore superfluous applications.

Technical Abstract: Understanding of the physical mode of action of fungicides allows for more efficient and effective application of fungicides and can improve disease control. Greenhouse and field studies were conducted to explore the pre-and post-infection duration and translocative properties of fungicides commonly used to control hop powdery mildew, caused by Podosphaera macularis. In greenhouse studies, application made 24 h before inoculation were almost 100% effective at suppressing powdery mildew, regardless of the fungicide evaluated. However, percent control of powdery mildew varied significantly between fungicides with increasing time from inoculation to application, ranging from 50 to 100% disease control (SE 0.168 and 0, respectively) depending on the fungicide. Fluopyram or fluopyram + trifloxystrobin were particularly efficacious, suppressing nearly all powdery mildew development independent of application timing. In translocation studies, fluopyram and flutriafol were the most effective treatments in each of two separate experiments, resulting in zones of inhibition of 1036 and 246.3 mm2, respectively, on adaxial leaf surfaces when a single droplet of each fungicide was applied to the abaxial surface of leaves. In field experiments, all fungicide treatments provided nearly complete control of powdery mildew infection when applied prior to inoculation. Levels of disease control decreased with time depending on treatment, showing trends similar to those observed in greenhouse studies. In the 2017 field experiments high levels of disease control (>75%) were observed at post-inoculation timepoints for all treatments tested, whereas the same fungicides were more sensitive to application timing in a different year. Findings from this research indicate that differences in efficacy between fungicides are relatively small when applications are made preventatively, but post-infection activity and translaminar movement of certain fungicides may render some more effective depending on application coverage and pre-existing infection.