Resistance risk assessment for fludioxonil in Stemphylium solani

An outbreak of grey leaf spot caused by Stemphylium solani was observed on tomato in Shandong Province of China in recent years and brought huge economical losses. Fludioxonil is a phenylpyrrole fungicide with strong antifungal activity against S. solani. To evaluate the risk of S. solani developing fludioxonil resistance, a total of 145 field isolates were examined for sensitivity to fludioxonil by measuring mycelial growth. The baseline sensitivity was distributed as a unimodal curve with a mean EC50 value of 0.0659 (+/- 0.0170) mu g mL(-1). Five mutants with high resistance to fludioxonil (RF > 1000) were obtained by successively selecting on fludioxonil-amended plates in the laboratory. All the resistant mutants associated with strongly reduced fitness in mycelial growth, sporulation and pathogenicity. Fludioxonil had positive cross-resistance with procymidone and iprodione, but there was no cross-resistance with other fungicides including boscalid, fluazinam, azoxystrobin and flusilazole. Based on the current results, resistance risk of S. solani to fludioxonil could be moderate. This is the first report of baseline sensitivity of S. solani to fludioxonil and its risk assessment. In order to delay the resistance development, it is recommended that fludioxonil can be used as one component of the mixture or fungicides with different modes of action should be alternatively used for this disease management.