Brown spot and net blotch, caused by the fungi Bipolaris sorokiniana and Pyrenophora teres, respectively, are the main leaf spots of barley (Hordeum vulgare). The rate of lesion expansion is an important epidemiological component of leaf spots and should be taken into account for disease management. Through greenhouse and field trials, lesion expansion was assessed in barley cultivars, under preventive and curative sprays of triazol (cyproconazole + propiconazole) and strobylurin (azoxystrobin) fungicides. In the greenhouse, the average area of brown spot lesions increased from 2.2 to 4.9 mm², most of which occurred between 14 and 30 days after inoculation. The cultivars MN 698 and EMB 128 showed a higher rate of lesion expansion than BR 2, EMB 127, EMB 129, and MN 684. A single preventive spray of fungicide averted infection by B. sorokiniana for over 21 days. In contrast, curative sprays carried out at one, two, four, six, eight, ten, or 12 days after inoculation, although inhibiting fungus sporulation, also resulted in initial lesions that were larger (up to 0.68 mm²) and more numerous (up to 3.9 per leaf). In the field, only the spray programs initiated at 46 to 60 days after plant emergence were able to reduce lesion size and the area under the disease progress curve (AACPD) for net blotch, which increased grain yield. Because fungicides had little or no curative effect on lesion expansion, fungicidal sprays based on disease severity should be reevaluated.
Bipolaris sorokiniana; Pyrenophora teres; Hordeum vulgare; control; epidemiology
