Characterization of Benomyl Resistance in Mycosphaerella fijiensis, Cause of Black Sigatoka of Banana, in Costa Rica.

Sixty-eight and eighty-six percent of monoascosporic isolates of Mycosphaerella fijiensis from two banana plantations in Costa Rica, in which benomyl was used for ≈10 years to control black Sigatoka, were resistant to benomyl in February and November 1994, respectively. No resistance to benomyl was detected in isolates collected during February 1994 from farms with no history of benomyl use that were located ≈50 km from the nearest banana plantations. Only 1% of isolates was resistant to benomyl in a sample taken during November 1994. In three additional banana farms where benomyl had not been used for 3 to 5 years before sampling, ben-omyl resistance persisted at a high frequency. Benomyl-resistant and -sensitive isolates were distributed equally throughout the range of isolate sensitivity to propiconazole, indicating no relationship between resistance to benomyl and lower sensitivity to propiconazole but double resistance to these two compounds. Five benomyl-resistant and five benomyl-sensitive isolates of M. fijiensis were inoculated to banana plants under greenhouse conditions. Benomyl-resistant isolates were more aggressive than benomyl-sensitive isolates, as determined by measures of disease severity, incubation time, and number of lesions at 40 days after inoculation.