Fungicide Resistance—Lessons for Herbicide Resistance Management?

Abstract

Resistance to agricultural fungicides has increaséd dramatically in the past twenty years, following the introduction of systemic fungicides. Disease control failures associated with fungicide resistance have occurred with many classes of fungicides and in many genera of plant-pathogenic fungi. In some cases, resistance evolved extremely rapidly making the chemicals ineffective for disease control only a few years after they were introduced.The rapid development of resistance to systemic fungicides has led to efforts to develop strategies to avoid or delay the evolution of fungicide resistance in plant pathogen populations. Despite a widespread interest in managing fungicide resistance, very few experimental studies have been performed to elucidate the important factors controlling resistance development. Most fungicide resistance studies have consisted of anecdotal field observations which have rarely been followed up with experimentation. In order to understand what factors affect the evolution of resistance, and to use this information to design effective resistance management strategies, more experimental studies are required.