Activity of the dinitroaniline fungicide fluazinam against Bipolaris maydis.

Fluazinam is a dinitroaniline fungicide with broad-spectrum activities. However, the activity of fluazinam against Bipolaris maydis which is the causal agent of southern corn leaf blight is unknown yet. In this study, baseline sensitivity of B. maydis to fluazinam was determined using 92 isolates collected during 2015 and 2016 from different geographical regions in Jiangsu Province of China, and the EC50 values ranged from 0.0396 to 0.9808 μg/ml with average value of 0.3853 ± 0.2297 μg/ml, and 0.079 to 0.7832 μg/ml with average value of 0.3065 ± 0.1384 μg/ml for mycelial growth and conidium germination respectively. Fluazinam did not affect the distribution of cell nucleus and the formation of septum of B. maydis. However, fluazinam could make mycelium of B. maydis contorted and the mycelial branches increased and inhibit the development of conidia. The result of transmission electron microscope showed that fluazinam damaged cell wall and cell membrane of mycelium, and make organelles in mycelial cell dissolved and vacuolated, and the cell almost broke up, which caused the intracellular plasma leakage increase. The protective activity test of fluazinam suggested that fluazinam had great control efficiency against B. maydis on detached corn leaves. Application of fluazinam at 10 μg/ml and 20 μg/ml, the control efficacy reached to 87.70% and 98.25% respectively. However, fluazinam had no curative activity against B. maydis on detached corn leaves. These results will contribute to us on evaluating the potential of the dinitroaniline fungicide fluazinam for management of diseases caused by B. maydis and understanding the mode of action of fluazinam against B. maydis.