Sensitivity of populations of Phakopsora pachyrhizi to the fungicide prothioconazole

ABSTRACT Reduced efficiency of synthetic fungicides is associated with the selection of individuals presenting genetic alterations that provide resistance to active ingredients. Signs of variations in the frequency of resistant individuals among fungal populations can be quantified based on the effective concentration 50 (CE50). The objective of this study was to evaluate the sensitivity to prothioconazole (DMI) by populations of Phakopsora pachyrhizi collected during the 2017/18 harvest from different soybean producing regions, based on the effective concentration that results in 50% control efficiency (CE50). Soybean leaflets were treated with a.i. at the concentrations zero; 0.0625; 0.125; 0.25; 0.5; 1; 2; 4; 8 and 16 mg L-1 and inoculated with P. pachyrhizi uredospores from 17 localities distributed in Brazil and Paraguay. The inoculated leaflets were kept in 15cm-diameter plastic Petri dishes containing moistened filter paper and incubated in growth chambers at 23 ± 2°C. The disease severity was evaluated 15 days after inoculation. Log-logistic adjustment was employed to estimate the effective concentration that had 50% control efficiency (CE50) for each population. There was variation in the sensitivity of P. pachyrhizi populations to the fungicide prothioconazole, and CE50 values ranged from 0.05 mg L-1 to 1.04 mg L-1 with mean and median values of 0.35 mg L-1. According to the obtained results, sensitivity of P. pachyrhizi to the fungicide prothioconazole varied with the origin of the fungal populations.