Factors Underlying the Prevalence of Pythium Infection of Corn Seeds Following Seed Treatment Application of Tebuconazole

Microbial communities are essential for soil health, but fungicide application may have significant effects on their structure. It is difficult to predict whether nontarget pathogens of applied fungicides in the soil will cause crop damage. Tebuconazole is a triazole fungicide that can be used as a seed treatment and, thereby, introduced to the soil. However, seed-applied tebuconazole has a potential risk of causing poor emergence of corn (Zea mays) seedlings. Using soil with a history of poor corn seedling emergence, we demonstrate through TA cloning and isolation that the poor emergence of corn seedlings from tebuconazole-coated corn seeds was primarily because of infection by surviving soil pathogens, specifically Pythium species that are not targeted by tebuconazole, rather than the phytotoxic effects of tebuconazole. Bioassay tests on tebuconazole-amended media showed that tebuconazole can suppress soil fungi while allowing Pythium to grow. Pythium species primarily contributing to the corn seed rot were more pathogenic at cooler temperatures. Furthermore, the nontarget biocontrol agent of Trichoderma spp. was strongly inhibited by tebuconazole. Taken together, the nontarget effects of tebuconazole are likely not significant under favorable plant growing conditions but are considerable because of low-temperature stress.