A picolinamide fungicide for controlling Cercospora-leaf spot (CLS) of sugar beet

Abstract

Cercospora-leaf spot (CLS) of sugar beet, caused by Cercospora beticola Sacc., is a major foliar disease of sugar beet in all sugar beet growing areas, worldwide, causing up to 50% yield loss. The disease is now dominant in almost all sugar beet growing areas of Europe, including Hungary. The use of fungicides has been being an integral part of the control of CLS of sugar beet. In recent decades, resistance of C. beticola to fungicides belonging to different groups of active substances has been described in many countries worldwide, including Hungary. The picolinamides are a new distinct group of fungal respiration inhibitors (QiI – FRAC Group 21) promise to be a good alternative in the management of fungicide resistance in crops. The florylpicoxamid fungicide were tested and evaluated over two seasons, in vegetation period of 2020 and 2021 for controlling CLS of sugar beet in Hungary. This fungicide was applied as straight formulated product at a range of dose rates, and they showed very effective control of CLS compared to the untreated control check plots and the reference fungicide products difenoconazole and epoxiconazole. All tested dose rates of florylpicoxamid provided effective control of against CLS of sugar beet. The area under the disease progress curve values (AUDPC) was significantly correlated with yield decrease, but AUPDC did not correlated with sugar content of the roots. Additionally, the results showed in two investigated years, the efficacy of florylpicoxamid for the control on CLS of sugar beet crop.