In tunnel experiments, the efficacy of dicarboximide sprays in controlling grey mould of strawberries was greatly decreased by the presence of dicarboximideresistant forms of Botrytis cinerea. The use of dichlofluanid, as a tank-mix or in an alternating programme, with a dicarboximide fungicide, procymidone, helped to maintain the efficacy of disease control but failed to prevent an increase in the proportion of dicarboximide-resistant forms of the pathogen.Alternative 'partner' fungicides (thiram, chlorothalonil) delayed build-up of resistance to dicarboximides. Build-up of resistance was absent or relatively small in unsprayed plots. Application of dichlofluanid alone was always associated with a substantial increase in dicarboximide resistance, although less than in procymidone-treated plots. Monitoring dicarboximide resistance in the tunnels during the winter, when no further sprays were applied, revealed a gradual decline in the proportion of dicarboximide-resistant forms in all previously treated plots.In laboratory studies on inoculated leaf debris, dichlofluanid treatment induced the build-up of dicarboximide-resistant forms of B . cinerea. Leaf-disc tests revealed cross-resistance of dicarboximide-resistant isolates towards dichlofluanid but not towards thiram or chlorothalonil. Dichlofluanid is widely used for control of B . cinerea and the implications of these results for the practical management of dicarboximide resistance in this pathogen are discussed.

S U M M A R YA laboratory test was developed to assess the sensitivity of field populations of Phytophthora infestans to metalaxyl. Discs of potato leaf tissue were floated upon solutions of the fungicide at different concentrations and inoculated with spores. The extent of symptom development was noted after incubation under standard conditions for 5-6 days. In preliminary experiments growth of isolates of P. infestans obtained from culture collections was severely inhibited in discs treated at 2 pglml. By contrast the development of an isolate obtained from a crop in Eire in which blight control with metalaxyl had failed, and known to be markedly less sensitive in vitro, was unaffected in discs treated at 100 pglml.During the summer of 1980, 234 samples of P. infestans were obtained from 20 sites in south-west England, 10 of which had received sprays containing metalaxyl and 10 of which had not. All samples were sensitive to metalaxyl applied at 2 pg/ml. In 1981, 35 sites within the same area, 30 of which had received sprays containing either metalaxyl or ofurace (a related fungicide), were similarly surveyed. Most of the 79 samples of P. infestans examined proved sensitive and at all sites the amount of blight was small. However, at three sites, including one not treated with acylalanine fungicides, strains were found which were unaffected by 100 pglml metalaxyl in leaf disc tests. These findings are discussed in relation to the development of resistant blight in other areas and to the use of fungicide mixtures.

In replicate-plot field experiments done in the UK, at one site in Avon for 3 years and another in Warwickshire for 2 years, application of ethirimol or triadimenol sprays or seed treatments was followed by decreases in sensitivity of mildew samples to the particular fungicide applied. Application of ethirimol-triadimenol or tridemorph-triadimenol mixtures caused smaller or no decreases in sensitivity. Differences between isolates in responses to ethirimol and to triadimenol treatment were usually negatively correlated. Early-season inoculum differed in fungicide sensitivity between sites. At one site sensitivity shifted markedly from one season to another. No clear interactions between cultivar, mildew pathotype and shifts in fungicide response could be discerned. There were no major differences in resistance build-up between seed or spray treatments.

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