Fungicide Film Coating – a New Approach to Potato Tubers Health

Abstract

Pioneer results of seed-potato health improvement and the suppression of the infection development during the potato cultivation by the pre-sowing coating of the tubers with an azoxystrobin-loaded degradable polymer film coating are presented. Using the Krasnoyarskiy Ranniy potato variety as an example, we show the possibility of forming a film coating on the surface of tubers without damaging them and reducing sprouting, using a 1% solution of degradable polymer poly-3-hydroxybutyrate [P(3HB)] in dichloromethane. The half-life of the polymer coating in the field soil was 25 days. Its gradual destruction from planting potatoes to the beginning of the flowering phase ensured long-term delivery of the fungicide to plants. More active suppression of rhizospheric micromycetes, including pathogens (Alternaria alternata and Fusarium oxysporum), and the decrease in the frequency of occurrence of these pathogens on plants during the growing season were shown in comparison with pre-sowing spraying of tubers with a fungicidal preparation Quadris (comparison group). The healing benefit of the fungicide film coating had a positive effect on the formation of tubers and the quality of the potato crop. The percent of marketable tubers and the total yield in the experimental group were 58% and 24.0 ± 2.9 t/ha exceeding the comparison group indicators which were 50% and 18.4 ± 2.2 t/ha, respectively. The share of tubers with symptoms of Fusarium infection was 8.5% in the experimental group versus 12.1% in the comparison group. The fungicidal effect of a long-term degradable azoxystrobin-loaded polymeric film coating is more successful than the traditional treatment of tubers with a solution of this fungicide.