Interactive Effects of Dodine and the DMI Fungicide Fenarimol in the Control of Apple Scab

Abstract

Interactive effects of a mixture of fenarimol and dodine in the inhibition of Venturi inaequalis populations and the risk that resistance will develop when the mixture is used for control of apple scab were investigated. Interactive mixture effects were determined for a composite population (n = 1007) representative of the Great Lakes apple-growing region and for a population (n = 1,295) sampled over three years from a single experimental orchard subjected to various fungicide treatments. Several interactive effects were identified: (i) subpopulations of V. inaequalis isolates resistant to dodine contained a higher proportion of isolates also resistant to fenarimol, (ii) synergistic effects were apparent for a large proportion of dodine- or fenarimol-resistant isolates when tested in mixture, and (iii) the level of fenarimol resistance was higher in the subpopulation resisting the mixture than in the subpopulation resisting fenarimol alone. Interactive effects determined under in vivo test conditions were of low relevance in the control of apple scab. The partly pleiotropic resistance of dodine and fenarimol had no apparent impact on the fenarimol sensitivities of dodine-resistant populations, and expression of synergistic mixture effects were of low or no significance under orchard conditions of scab control. Treatments of apple trees with a half-rate mixture of fenarimol and dodine selected V. inaequalis isolates resistant to the mixture. Such isolates were poorly controlled by the mixture and by each component applied alone at twice their mixture rates; therefore, mixture-resistant isolates will be selected and must be controlled by other means. The level of fenarimol resistance was high for the mixture-resistant subpopulation; therefore, increasing the mixture rate of fenarimol is unlikely to significantly improve control of these isolates. The advantage of a half-rate mixture of fenarimol and dodine in scab management resides in a substantially lower frequency of selectable isolates compared to the frequencies encountered by fenarimol and dodine applied alone.