Persistence and fitness of carbendazim‐ and dicarboximide‐resistant isolates of Monilinia fructicola (Wint.) Honey in flowers, shoots and fruit of stone fruit

Flowers on detached peach shoots and ripe fruit were inoculated under controlled conditions in order to estimate the competitive ability of Monilinia fructicola isolates sensitive and resistant to carbendazim and dicarboximide fungicides. Isolates varied considerably, but there was no consistent relationship between carbendazim resistance and competitive ability; there was, however, evidence of reduced competitive ability in the single dicarboximide‐resistant and the dual dicarboximide/high carbendazim‐resistant isolate examined. The ability to produce conidia on twig cankers inoculated in late spring 1989 was retained under field conditions by all sensitive and resistant isolates for at least 1 year. Dicarboximide‐resistant isolates produced fewer conidia than the carbendazim‐resistant and sensitive isolates on cankers. The production of conidia on mummified fruit inoculated in February 1990 decreased in the field during the winter and the following spring, but some conidia were produced by all isolates. Measures of pathogenicity, virulence and fitness for all isolates were similar to the original values after survival for 1 year. The evidence presented in this paper supports field observations that carbendazim‐resistant isolates are likely to persist permanently in the M. fructicola population, whereas dicarboximide‐resistant isolates are more likely to decline unless fungicide selection pressure is maintained.