Biotech Updates

University of Illinois Confirms Soybean Pathogen's Resistance to Fungicides

October 22, 2010

The devastating disease known as frogeye leaf spot (FLS) caused by the fungus Cercospora sojina exhibited resistance to strobilurin fungicides in a commercial field in Lauderdale County, Alabama. Plant pathologists at the University of Illinois confirmed this observation when isolates of the fungi were found to germinate in the petri dish in the presence of high concentrations of fungicide ingredients.

The Lauderdale County producer started to suspect fungi resistance to fungicides when FLS was still observed after the second application of strobilurin fungicide. To date, this is the only reported case of C. sojina resistance to fungicide among the soybean-growing area of the U.S. University of Ilinois' researcher Dr. Carl Bradley and his team are continuously investigating the fungicide resistance under a project funded by the Illinois Soybean Association.

Growers are advised to control the spread of FLS through the use of resistant and tolerant soybean varieties, crop rotation, effective triazole or triazole-strobilurin fungicide products.

Read the complete news article at http://www.agriculture.utk.edu/news/releases/2010/10-10-FrogeyeLS.html.