Impact of fungicides on potato pathogen in the Tambov region of the Russian Federation

Abstract

Fungicide application has been reported to effectively manage fungal disease that causes 10 to 80 % of the average annual estimated loss, including management costs to potatoes during the production cycle in Russia. The annual agricultural losses caused by these pathogens are highly significant. A field experiment was conducted for two consecutive years (2022 and 2023), using a potato varietal line and two fungicides (Zummer and Shirlan) to assess the efficiency of newly introduced and previously used fungicides on potato disease Phytophthora infestans (potato blight), Rhizoctonia solani (Black scurf), Streptomyces scabies (Common scab), and Fusarium spp. (Fusarium dry rot). The experiment was arranged in a randomized complete block design with four replicates. Generally, treatment 5 exhibited the highest pathogen severity population and lowest fresh tuber yield of potatoes. Treatments 2 and 4 (Zimmer and Shirlan at 0.4 L/ha) concentrations had the lowest pathogen severity population and highest fresh tuber yield of the crop studied in the experiment. Both treatments 2 and 4 had a statistically similar high tolerance to the disease pressure, contributing to an increase in fresh tuber yield of 10.25 t/ha. Treatment 5, which had the highest pathogen population, exhibited the lowest fresh tuber yield of 9.36 t/ha. This research demonstrated that the fungicides Zimmer and Shirlan significantly lowered the severity and interaction of all potato diseases studied. Therefore, the study confirmed that the application of Zimmer and Shirlan fungicides at four spraying intervals at a concentration rate of 0.4 L/ha within the developmental stages (budding, beginning of flowering, flowering, and end of flowering) effectively reduces disease development, damage caused by these potato diseases, and increases yield.