Field effectiveness and biodegradation of cyclic imides in lettuce field soils

When 42 field trials, carried out from 1975 to 1989 in the Perpignan region (France) for control of lettuce drop caused by Sclerotinia minor, were compared, a decrease in the field effectiveness of cyclic imides was perceptible, beginning approximately in 1985. Moreover, in 15 out of 46 commercial lettuce fields surveyed in 1988 and 1989, the effectiveness of iprodione was less than 80%, the level of acceptability for the growers. In these fields, fungicide degradation, estimated by 3,5-dichloroaniline formation, was faster than in soils in which S. minor was adequately controlled. Statistical analyses showed that the iprodione degradation index was strongly linked to the history of fungicide treatment and was weakly correlated to soil pH or clay content. All the fields characterized by low iprodione effectiveness were associated with high levels of fungicide treatment and high degradation index. Moreover, we observed that soil from a field which had received iprodione for more than ten years did not degrade vinclozolin quickly, while soil from another part of the same field which had been treated with vinclozolin for eight years degraded vinclozolin faster than iprodione.