Fungicide effect on fungal communities in the wheat phyllosphere

The aim of this project is to investigate the effect of commonly used fungicides on fungal communities on wheat leaves. More knowledge on the effect of fungicides on non-target fungi is important in order to optimise fungicide application strategies. Sampling was carried out in 18 fields in two important agricultural production areas of Sweden: Skåne and Västergötland. Fungicide-treated and non-fungicide treated leaves were sampled from conventionally managed farmers’ fields containing untreated control plots used for disease monitoring or field trials. 454 sequencing of amplicons of the fungal ITS2 rDNA region was employed.