Efficacy of fungicide products against the blossom blight disease of almond caused by Monilinia laxa in the Ebro Valley
Blossom blight of almond, caused by Monilinia laxa, mainly affects flowers and early-stage fruits. In Spain, the intensification and modernization of almond production have contributed to increasing disease incidence. The number of authorized products available to control this disease is limited, an...
| Autores: | , , , , , |
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| Tipo de recurso: | artículo |
| Fecha de publicación: | 2026 |
| País: | España |
| Institución: | Institut de Recerca i Tecnologia Agroalimentàries (IRTA) |
| Repositorio: | IRTA Pubpro. Open Digital Archive |
| OAI Identifier: | oai:dnet:irtapubpro__::a531bd844faa1044dc0ee0dbda05873a |
| Acceso en línea: | https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.12327/5292 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cropro.2026.107697 |
| Access Level: | acceso abierto |
| Palabra clave: | 63 |
| Sumario: | Blossom blight of almond, caused by Monilinia laxa, mainly affects flowers and early-stage fruits. In Spain, the intensification and modernization of almond production have contributed to increasing disease incidence. The number of authorized products available to control this disease is limited, and their efficacy under field con ditions is often suboptimal. In this study, we evaluated different products against M. laxa through in vitro, in vivo, and under field conditions. First, the efficacy of 25 products was tested in vitro against M. laxa inoculum at three doses (commercial dose, ±10-fold). The most effective products were further tested in vivo using almond detached-flowers from cvs. ‘Soleta’ and ‘Tardona’, assessing the disease incidence and severity. The best 10 products were also tested on ‘Soleta’ under field conditions, over two consecutive years. Our results showed that in both studies, in vitro and in vivo, difenoconazole was consistent with >90% disease reduction compared to the control. Field trials revealed that seven products significantly reduced the blossom blight incidence: difenoco nazole, tebuconazole, cyprodinil, cyprodinil + fludioxonil, fluxapyroxad + pyraclostrobin, boscalid + pyr aclostrobin, and kresoxim-methyl + difenoconazole. These results indicated that none of the active ingredients (AIs) tested consistently provided complete disease control across all assays. Nevertheless, in this study, a range of products with moderate to high efficacy were identified offering potential for integration into a comprehensive and sustainable disease management strategy. |
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