USE OF FLUQUINCONAZOLE AS A SEED TREATMENT FOR THE CONTROL OF TAKE-ALL DISEASE (Gaeumannomyces graminis var. tritici) OF WHEAT

Take-all is considered one of the most destructive diseases of wheat worldwide. Seed treatment with fungicides is not a completely effective control method, but it is a valuable tool to reduce the disease. During the growing season 2012 - 2013 an experiment was performed with 'Maxwell-INIA' winter wheat in the Santa Rosa Experimental Station INIA, Chillan, which included six treatments: a commercial formulation of fluquinconazole + prochloraz, three doses of i.a. fluquinconazole (75; 87.5 and 100 g a.i.) and two controls (with and without inoculation). Soil was artificially inoculated with a pathogenic isolate of Gaeumannomyces graminis var. tritici INIA Ggt 2010-04. Treatments with three doses of fluquinconazole resulted in an increase of both yield and quality, being similar to the commercial formulation and increasing yields between 26 and 38 % with respect to the inoculated control. No seed treatment completely controlled the disease, but these treatments increased yield (26-38%), harvest index (18-22%) and hectolitre weight (5-8%) compared to the inoculated control without fungicide. These results suggest that the use of fluquinconazole is promising for take- all control in wheat.