Survey of benomyl resistance in Pseudocercosporella herpotrichoides on winter wheat and barley in England and Wales in 1983

Surveys of 528 randomly selected commercial fields in England and Wales in 1983 showed that isolates of Pseudocercosporella herpotrichoides resistant to benomyl were common and widespread on winter wheat and winter barley. During June and July resistant strains were recovered from 16 to 66% of fields and the proportion of resistant isolates was 37–52%. The frequency of occurrence of resistant isolates was positively correlated with the number of applications of carbendazimgenerating (MBC) fungicides during the previous 8 years. Benomyl resistance was found in 21–48% of fields where it was claimed that MBC had never been used, and 7–28% of isolates from those fields, were resistant. Resistance was more frequent in R-type than in W-type isolates of the pathogen. The proportion of R-type isolates decreased as the number of previous winter wheat crops rose and increased with the number of winter barley crops grown and with the number of MBC sprays applied to crops in previous years. The implications of these findings for the control of eyespot in England and Wales are discussed.