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Baseline Sensitivity of Pyraclostrobin and Toxicity of SHAM to Sclerotinia sclerotiorum

Sclerotinia sclerotiorum is a cosmopolitan plant pathogen notable for its wide host range. The quinone outside inhibitor (QoI) fungicide pyraclostrobin has not been registered for control of S. sclerotiorum in China. In this study, baseline sensitivity of pyraclostrobin was established based on effective concentration for 50% inhibition of mycelial growth (EC₅₀) values of 153 isolates of S. sclerotiorum collected from five provinces of China and toxicity of alternative oxidase inhibitor salicylhydroxamic acid (SHAM) to S. sclerotiorum was determined. Results showed that the frequency distribution of EC₅₀ values of the 153 isolates was unimodal but with a right-hand tail. The mean EC₅₀ value was 0.1027 μg/ml and the range of EC₅₀ values was 0.0124 to 0.6324 μg/ml. Applied as a preventive fungicide in pot experiments, pyraclostrobin at 5, 15, and 45 μg/ml provided control efficacies of 61, 77, and 100%, respectively. There was no positive cross-resistance between pyraclostrobin and carbendazim or dimethachlon. EC₅₀ values for SHAM against four isolates of S. sclerotiorum were 44.4, 51.8, 54.4, and 68.7 μg/ml. SHAM at 20 μg/ml could significantly increase not only the inhibitory effect of pyraclostrobin on mycelial growth on potato dextrose agar media but also the control efficacy in planta. These results indicated that SHAM should not be added into artificial media in in vitro assay of S. sclerotiorum sensitivity to pyraclostrobin. This has broad implications for assay of sensitivity of fungal pathogen to QoI fungicides.