Sensitivity of Uncinula necator to quinoxyfen: evaluation of isolates selected using a discriminatory dose screen

Quinoxyfen is a protectant fungicide that provides excellent control of many powdery mildew diseases. Prior to the launch of quinoxyfen in vines in 1998, a leaf disc sporulation assay was developed to assess the sensitivity of Uncinula necator (Schw) Burr to quinoxyfen. The distribution of EC50 values from 56 monoconidial U. necator isolates collected from six countries between 1993 and 1996 was found to range from less than 0.03 to 2.6 mg litre-1. Although this range of EC50 values was quite broad, the inability to establish a minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) for the majority of these isolates, including some of the most sensitive isolates, was unexpected and suggested that the leaf disc sporulation assay may not reflect the true activity of quinoxyfen in the field. In 2002, following the detection of isolates resistant to quinoxyfen in Blumeria graminis Speer f. sp. tritici Marchal, a discriminatory dose screen was developed to test large populations of U. necator for rare individuals with significantly decreased sensitivity to quinoxyfen. The individual isolates selected by this method were tested with the leaf disc sporulation assay. Although a significant proportion were found to have EC50 values within the original distribution, a number of isolates with apparent reduced sensitivity to quinoxyfen were also detected. However, further examination of a subset of these isolates in a more quantitative germination/germ tube elongation inhibition assay suggested that the magnitude of the reduction in sensitivity for some of these isolates was much less than predicted by the sporulation assay. Thus, for an exclusively protectant fungicide such as quinoxyfen, a leaf disc sporulation assay may overestimate the frequency of isolates with significantly reduced sensitivity and the threat of decreased performance due to resistance.