LEVELS OF RESISTANCE OF ERYSIPHE-GRAMINIS F SP HORDEI TO THE SYSTEMIC FUNGICIDE TRIADIMENOL

A random sample of conidiospores of Erysiphe graminis f.sp. hordei was obtained from the atmosphere above Cambridge, England, by incubating them on barley seedlings exposed on three dates in 1985. The asexual progeny of each spore was tested for its response to a range of doses of a systemic triazole fungicide, triademenol. Principal components analysis of the data revealed that the majority of isolates had a distinct level of response to triadimenol, being resistant to triadimenol at the rate apoplied to seed commercially. The remaining isolates appeared either to be sensitive to the lowest dose of triadimenol used, or to have one of two intermediate levels of resistance. There was a significant increase in the frequency of isolates with higher levels of resistance to triadimenol during 1985. This is likely to have been a response to the continuing widespread use of demethylation inhibitor (DMI) fungicides by British farmers.