Protective Effects of Systiva^® Seed Treatment Fungicide for the Control of Winter Wheat Foliar Diseases Caused at Early Stages Due to Climate Change

Foliar fungal diseases are a serious threat to winter wheat production and climate change appears to favor pathogens associated with leaf blotch and tan spot symptoms in the Mediterranean area. The present work aimed to highlight these risks and propose appropriate disease management strategies by evaluating the seed treatment with the Systiva^® (BASF) fungicide as a means to protect the crop against foliar fungal infections during the early growing stages. Towards that aim, plant tissue symptoms affected by the pathogens <i>Pyrenophora tritici-repentis</i> and <i>Septoria</i> spp. were systematically recorded in a study field in the region of Larissa, central Greece for three years (2016–2018), and the findings were associated with the monthly weather anomalies. Consequently, for the growing period of 2021–2022, a field experiment was established in the same disease prone field, comparing different doses of the seed treatment with Systiva^® fungicide against leaf blotch and tan spot diseases. The evaluation was made by visual disease assessments, remote sensing with an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) and metagenomics analysis. Parallel measurements on straw residues were also made to characterize the plant residues perithecia (pseudothecia). Visual leaf disease assessments and UAV remote sensing data showed that Systiva^® treatments at doses of 125 cc and 150 cc per 100 kg of wheat seed can reduce the percentage of infected wheat plants caused by foliar fungal pathogens at wheat growth stages GS23-25 and GS30-31. Moreover, the metagenomics analyses performed on the microbial communities revealed that Systiva^® can decrease the degree of infection by <i>P. tritici-repentis</i> and <i>Z. tritici</i> but do not provide sufficient protection against <i>P. nodorum</i>. Foliar diseases were influenced by the soil surface area covered with straw residue with a high proportion of natural inoculum (pseudothecia/ascospores).