This study aimed to evaluate the performance of fungicides against wheat head blast (WHB) under various environments and to determine scenarios best suited for fungicide applications. Field experiments were conducted at 23 environments in Brazil and Bolivia from 2012 to 2015. Data from all trials within the same country were combined for estimating mean WHB control efficacy and yield benefits from using a set of fungicides. Experiments were classified, based on disease index in the check treatment, as having low (CDI = 10), moderate (CDI = 40), and high (CDI = 70) disease pressure and this variable was tested as a covariate in the model. In Brazil, greater disease reduction and yield increase, in trials with moderate to high disease pressure, were obtained when using mancozeb-based fungicides, but with yield gains below 1276 kg/ha. In Bolivia, all fungicides reduced the disease at moderate to high disease pressure, but specific QoI + DMI premixes led to higher yield gains averaging 1834 kg/ha. Based on the evidence provided, we concluded that current WHB chemical strategies could have radically different results depending on country and disease pressure. Although WHB chemical control can be effective even under environmental conditions that favor the disease, integrated management strategies should be explored. Our results are useful for aiding decisions on fungicide application and identifying priorities for future research.

Wheat blast, caused by Pyricularia oryzae Triticum (PoT) lineage, is a major constraint to wheat production, mainly in the tropics of Brazil where severe epidemics are more frequent. We analyzed disease and wheat yield data from 42 uniform field trials conducted during nine years (2012 to 2020) in order to assess whether the percent control and yield response were influenced by fungicide type, region (tropical or subtropical), and year. Six treatments were selected, all evaluated in at least 19 trials. Two fungicides were applied as solo active ingredients: MANCozeb, and TEBUconazole, and four were premixes: AZOXystrobin + TEBU, TriFLoXystrobin + PROThioconazole, TFLX + TEBU, and PYRAclostrobin + EPOXiconazole. Percent control, calculated from back-transforming estimates by a meta-analysis network model fitted to the log of the means, ranged from 43% to 58%, with all but PYRA + EPOX showing efficacy greater than 52% on average, not differing among them. The variation in both efficacy and yield response was explained by region and all but TEBU performed better in the subtropics than in the tropics. Yield response from using three sequential sprays was around two times greater in the subtropics (319 to 532 kg/ha) than in the tropics (149 to 241.3 kg/ha). No significant decline in fungicide efficacy or yield response was observed in nine years of study for any of the fungicides. Our results reinforce the need to improve control by adopting an integrated management approach in the tropics given the poorer performance and lower profitability, especially for the premixes, than in the subtropics.

Alternative hosts are an important way of phytopathogenic bacteria survival between crop seasons, constituting a source of inoculum for the following crops. Bacterial wilt, caused by Curtobacterium flaccumfaciens pv. flaccumfaciens (Cff), is one of the most important diseases for common bean, and little information is available about the host range of the bacterium. In this study, we assessed possible alternative hosts for Cff, especially those cultivated during winter, in rotation systems with common bean. Plants of barley, black oat, canola, radish, ryegrass, wheat and white oat, were assessed under field and greenhouse conditions. Cff colonized epiphytically all plant species and endophytically black oat, ryegrass, wheat and white oat plants assessed in the greenhouse assays. Under field conditions, Cff colonized all plant species by except radish. All bacterial strains re-isolated from the plants were pathogenic to common bean and identified as Cff by PCR with specific primers. Based on our results, the cultivation of bean crop in succession with barley, black oat, canola, ryegrass, wheat and white oat should not be recommended, mainly in areas with a history of bacterial wilt occurrence. In these cases, the better option for crop rotation during the winter is radish, a non-alternative host for Cff.

Fusarium head blight (FHB), caused mainly by Fusarium graminearum, is best controlled with demethylation inhibitor (DMI) fungicides during flowering. However, the use of premixes of DMI and quinone outside inhibitor (QoI) fungicides to control FHB has increased in Brazil. Data on FHB severity and wheat yields measured in field experiments conducted in Brazil were gathered from both peer- and non-peer-reviewed sources published from 2000 to 2018. After applying selection criteria, 73 field trials from 35 bibliographic sources were identified, among which 50% of the data were obtained from cooperative network trials conducted after 2011. To be included in the analysis, a DMI+QoI premixes or tebuconazole (TEB) were tested in at least 14 trials and three years. Four premixes met the criteria. Estimates of percent control (and respective 95% confidence interval) by a network model fitted to the log of the treatment means ranged from 44.1% (pyraclostrobin + metconazole applied once; 32.4 to 53.7) to 64.3% (pyraclostrobin + metconazole; 58.4 to 69.3); the latter not differing from TEB (59.9%, 53.6 to 65.3). Yield response was statistically similar for pyraclostrobin + metconazole (532.1 kg/ha, 441 to 623) and trifloxystrobin + prothioconazole (494.9 kg/ha, 385 to 551), and both differed statistically from a group composed of TEB (448.2 kg/ha, 342 to 554), trifloxystrobin + TEB (468.2 kg/ha, 385 to 551), azoxystrobin + TEB (462.4 kg/ha, 366 to 558) and pyraclostrobin + metconazole applied once (413.7 kg/ha, 308 to 518). The two categories of FHB index (7% cut off) and yield (3,000 kg/ha cut off), both in the non-treated check, did not explain the heterogeneity in the estimates. Two sequential sprays of TEB or one spray of pyraclostrobin + metconazole as management choices are likely more profitable than DIM+QoI premixes sprayed twice during flowering considering only the fungicide effects on yield.

Wheat blast, caused by Pyricularia oryzae Triticum (PoT) lineage, is a major constraint to wheat production, mainly in the tropics of Brazil where severe epidemics are more frequent. We analyzed disease and wheat yield data from 42 uniform field trials conducted during nine years (2012 to 2020) in order to assess whether the percent control and yield response were influenced by fungicide type, region (tropical or subtropical), and year. Six treatments were selected, all evaluated in at least 19 trials. Two fungicides were applied as solo active ingredients: MANCozeb, and TEBUconazole, and four were premixes: AZOXistrobin + TEBU, TriFLoXistrobin + PROThioconazole, TFLX + TEBU, and PYRAclostrobin + EPOXiconazole. Percent control, calculated from back-transforming estimates by a meta-analysis network model fitted to the log of the means, ranged from 43% to 58%, with all but PYRA + EPOX showing efficacy greater than 52% on average, not differing among them. The variation in both efficacy and yield response were explained by region and all but TEBU performed better in the subtropics than in the tropics. Yield response from using three sequential sprays was around two times greater in the subtropics (319 to 532 kg/ha) than in the tropics (149 to 241.3 kg/ha). No significant decline in fungicide efficacy or yield response were observed in nine years of study for any of the fungicides. Our results reinforce the need to improve control by adopting an integrated management approach in the tropics given the poorer performance and lower profitability, especially for the premixes, than in the subtropics.