Older fungicides have variable efficacy controlling R. commune but some of the new generation active ingredients can be very effective. Nevertheless, it is still a difficult pathogen to control compared with, for example, powdery mildew, especially under high inoculum conditions.
Disease control based on the use of resistance elicitors particularly in combinations and with other crop protection strategies of Integrated Pest Management (IPM), may be more durable as they will be less prone to erosion by pathogen population selection. This is because they act by triggering the plants’ defence mechanisms enabling them to express resistance better upon actual challenge by a pathogen. It is assumed that they act non-specifically against all pathotypes but it is also known that they cause differential expression of resistance in different cultivars of barley.
Key reviews
Walters, D., Newton, A., Lyon, G. (eds), Induced resistance for plant defence: a sustainable approach to crop protection. Blackwell Publishing, Oxford, UK.
Walters, D., Walsh, D., Newton, A., Lyon, G. 2005. Induced resistance for plant disease control: maximising the efficacy of resistance elicitors. Phytopathology 95, 1368-1373.
