Sensitivity to four systemic fungicides of Colombian isolates of Phytophthora infestans

Potato late blight caused by Phytophthora infestans is the most restrictive disease of this crop in Colombia , where environmental conditions are optimal conditions for its epidemic development. This situation leads to an excessive use of fungicides by farmers, which besides representing near 10% of production costs, causes a serious damage of environment and public health. This research pretends to support IPM programs by monitoring the sensitivity levels of 15 isolates of P. infestans obtained from crops in Antioquia, Cundinamarca and Boyacá, to fungicides Ridomil® Gold, Curzate® M-8, Previcur® N SL and Mildex® 711 WG as a tool of the risk analysis that permit to offer to the farmers the technical recommendations based on the generation of sensitivity lines. Evaluations of sensitivity were carried out using the immersion of leaf discs methodology with seven doses of each commercial product. Results show that the studied population presents high levels of sensitivity to these fungicides. In the case of Curzate® M-8, the average EC50 value was 0.28 mg·L-1, while the EC50 for Previcur® N SL reached 0.71 mg·L- . Intests with fungicides Ridomil® Gold and Mildex® 711 WG, these values were 0.62 and 0.54 mg·L-1, respectively. Finally, sporangia production decreased from an average of 41,181 sporangia/mL in control treatment to less than 500 sporangia/mL when the maximum doses of four fungicides were evaluated