Fludioxonil

Commercially available soybean Glycine max L. (var. S15-L5) seeds were obtained either pretreated only with fungicides (Mefenoxam 0.0113 mg and Fludioxonil 0.0038 mg, Syngenta Crop Protection, LLC, Greensboro, NC, USA) or pretreated with the same fungicides and thiamethoxam (CruiserMaxx^® applied at the label rate of 50 g of AI per 100 kg of seed; Syngenta Crop Protection, LLC). All seeds were inoculated with rhizobial bacterial (N-Dure, INTX Microbials, LLC, Kentland, IN, USA), grown in 15-cm pots in Sunshine^® soil mix (SunGro, Agawam, MA, USA) within a growth chamber (PGC-10, Percival Scientific Inc., Perry, USA) at a constant temperature of 27 °C, 16 h, 900 µmol/m²/s light intensity and 50% humidity. Three weeks after germination, twelve untreated soybean plants at V3 stage (first three trifoliate leaves fully developed) were randomly chosen and exposed to a soil drench using 0.024 g/100mL of water per pot of imidacloprid (Marathon^® 75 WP, soluble powder formulation, 750 g of imidacloprid/kg).
Spider mite (T. cinnabarinus) colonies were established from naturally occurring greenhouse infestations. Mites were moved onto soybean plants grown from untreated seeds and maintained on soybean plants for at least 3 generations before the onset of experiments.

Uniform and high-quality avocado fruit (Persea americana) were harvested—cv. Pinkerton (HaSharon area), cv. Ettinger (Nahshonim and Nahsholim areas), and cv. Reed (Nahshonim areas)—from Israel and transported to the postharvest laboratories at the Agricultural Research Organization, Volcani Center, Israel.
Lasiodiplodia theobromae strain Avo 62 was isolated from rotten “Hass” avocado fruit grown in Israel and used for this study. The purified single spore cultures of L. theobromae strain Avo 62 was identified by sequencing the amplicon of the PCR amplification with ITS1 and ITS4 primers and was identified as a stem-end rot (SER) causal agent by Koch’s postulate on avocado fruit [11 (link),12 (link)]. The fungi were maintained on potato dextrose agar (PDA, Difco Ltd., Le Pont-de-Claix, France) at 22 °C.
The following fungicides were used: (1) prochloraz (N-Propyl-N-(2-(2,4,6-trichlorophenoxy)ethyl)-1H-imidazole-1-carboxamide), commercial name: Sportak (Bayer, Leverkusen, Germany), soluble concentrate 450 g/L in water; (2) fludioxonil (4-(2,2-Difluoro-1,3-benzodioxol-4-yl)-1H-pyrrole-3-carbonitrile), commercial name: Scholar (Syngenta, Huddersfield, UK), soluble concentrate 230 g/L in water.

Suppressive effects of T. aggressivum f. europaeum TAET1 on B. cinerea, S. sclerotiorum and M. melonis were assessed using a detached leaf assay as described by Novak et al. [64 (link)] and Patial et al. [65 ]. Leaves of cucumber (variety, Super Marketer, Mascarell), pepper (var. Pimiento del Padrón, Mascarell) and tomato (var. Red Cherry, Fitó) seedlings were disinfected using 3% sodium hypochlorite for 30 s and were washed twice to remove residues. The leaves were immersed for 3 min in a solution containing TAET1 spores at a dose of 10⁶ spores·mL⁻¹ or were immersed in an aqueous solution containing the fungicide Switch (cyprodinil 37.5% and fludioxonil 25% (WG) w/w; Syngenta, Basel, Switzerland) at 600 ppm to compare efficacy. Whole leaves or fragments were then placed on wet filter paper in plastic trays, and the centre of the leaf or leaf fragment was carefully punctured using a sterilised needle. A 0.5-cm disk containing the corresponding pathogen was placed at the puncture site. Petri dishes were then incubated at 25 °C, and number of leaves with symptoms were counted and photographed 72 h after inoculation. This experiment was repeated twice.