EVALUATION OF IN-FURROW FUNGICIDE TREATMENTS TO CONTROL RHIZOCTONIA ROOT-ROT OF WHEAT

The efficacy of eight fungicides, placed in-furrow at sowing, to reduce rhizoctonia root rot and increase yields of wheat was examined in glasshouse and field experiments. Under glasshouse conditions three of the fungicides, coated on clay granules at a rate equivalent to 400 g a.i. ha-1, reduced root rot of wheat grown in soil inoculated with Rhizoctonia solani. None of the chemicals stimulated growth of wheat in the absence of disease, but three retarded growth. Experiments at six sites with different soil types and rhizoctonia risk in north-west Victoria, Australia, showed that the fungicide-coated granules were generally ineffective at reducing both incidence and severity of rhizoctonia root rot of wheat. However, tebuconazole was effective at two sites and at one of these flutriafol, RH-7592, cyproconazole and diniconazole also reduced disease severity. Yields were increased by 51% with tebuconazole at one site, by 40% with diniconazole at another and by between 23 and 30% with RH-7592, diniconazole, flutriafol and flutolanil, at a third site.