Effects of fungicides on creeping bentgrass health and rooting characteristics under abiotic stress

Abstract

Positive effects on plant health provided by quinone outside inhibitors (QoI) and other fungicide classes have been previously reported in turfgrass and other agricultural crops. However, most of the research was conducted under controlled environmental rather than field conditions. Two field and one greenhouse experiments were conducted and repeated in southern California from 2011-2013 to test the ability of selected fungicides to retain or improve creeping bentgrass (Agrostis stolonifera L.; CBG) quality and rooting characteristics when exposed to drought stress induced by multiple abiotic stressors, including, heat and traffic. Fungicide treatments were applied on 14-d or 28-d intervals prior to and during implemented stress periods for a total of 2-5 applications and consisted of azoxystrobin, chlorothalonil + acibenzolar-S-methyl (ASM), fluoxastrobin, aluminum tris, penthiopyrad, pyraclostrobin, pyraclostrobin + boscalid tested against a nontreated control (NTC). No disease symptoms were present in any trial site, but the presence of turfgrass pathogens was not determined. Although increased root diameter in comparison to NTC was observed in plants treated with azoxystrobin and pyraclostrobin + boscalid, and increased root volume was observed in pyraclostrobin + boscalid in the greenhouse study, no significant differences in rooting characteristics were found in the field studies. Moreover, none of the fungicide treatments improved turf quality or normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) in any of the experiments. Results imply that fungicides offer little to no secondary benefits in regard to abiotic stress such as drought alleviation in arid environments, when disease pressure is minimal or absent.

Effect of Inoculation with Arbuscular Mycorrhizal Fungi and Fungicide Application on the Secondary Metabolism of Solanum tuberosum Leaves

“…It has been shown that the strobilurin group of fungicides, in addition to their antifungal activities, can modulate plant physiology and biochemistry [ 32 ]. According to Schiavon et al, (2021) [ 33 ], the positive effects on plants include an increase in chlorophyll content, photosynthetic activity, stomatal aperture, water consumption, plant antioxidant activity, etc. In blackcurrant plants under applications of pyraclostrobin and strobilurin, an increase in phenolic compound concentrations has been reported [ 34 ].…”

Azoxystrobin alters the dynamics of short‐term phosphorus uptake of mycorrhizal potato plants associated to Rhizophagus irregularis

“…As reported by Fritz et al. (2022), plant metabolism could be improved after application of this strobilurin fungicide, via an increase in chlorophyll content, photosynthetic activity, stomatal aperture, water consumption, plant antioxidant activity, accumulation of phenolic compounds as flavonols and hydrocinnamic acids, and so forth (Fritz et al., 2022; Schiavon et al., 2021). This observation was reversed in the M treatments, in which plant SDW and RDW were significantly lower when azoxystrobin was introduced to the culture substrate compared to the absence of the fungicide.…”

Evaluation of the Antifungal Potential of Grape Cane and Flesh-Coloured Potato Extracts against Rhizoctonia sp. in Solanum tuberosum Crops

“…Finally, the active compounds of the extracts are related to the physiological and biochemical responses of the plants, and some of the positive effects on plants include increased photosynthetic activity, consumption and efficient use of water, and antioxidant capacity, among others [ 36 ]. However, the application time had a similar trend to the difference in extracts; the shorter application time correlated with the antioxidant capacity, and as the time increased, it correlated with the photosynthetic parameters.…”