Abstract: | The herbicides fluchloralin and alachlor applied to soil altered the effectiveness of fungicide treatments to seed and soil for controlling cowpea damping-off. These herbicides also modified the in-vitro toxicity of the fungicides to the mycelial growth of Pythium butleri and Rhizoctonia solani in a nutrient medium. Both herbicides reduced the toxicity of 2-methoxyethylmercury chloride (MEMC) and propamocarb to the growth of P. butleri, and of carbendazim to the growth of R. solani, but enhanced the toxicity of captafol and quintozene to P. butleri and R. solani, respectively. In pot tests, quintozene gave better control of R. solani damping-off in soil treated with fluchloralin or alachlor than in untreated soil, whereas disease control by carbendazim was decreased in similarly treated soils. Both herbicides attenuated the effectiveness of MEMC and captafol to control the damping-off caused by P. butleri; the efficacy of propamocarb was increased by alachlor but was decreased by fluchloralin. The implications of herbicide-fungicide interactions are discussed in the context of fungicidal control of root diseases in herbicide-treated soil. |