Azoxystrobin is one of the first of a new class of fungicides, the strobilurins, to be commercialised. It is now the leading proprietary fungicide in the world, but there are already serious resistance concerns.
What is azoxystrobin?
Azoxystrobin was first marketed in 1998 and is a systemic, broad-spectrum fungicide with activity against the four major groups of plant pathogenic fungi including Ascomcetes (eg powdery mildews), Basidiomycetes (eg rusts), Deutoromycetes (eg rice blast) and Oomycetes (eg downy mildew)(1). It inhibits spore germination and mycelial growth(2). It has worldwide uses on cereals, vines, rice, citrus, potatoes and tomatoes. In 1999, azoxystrobin was the leading proprietary fungicide worldwide with sales of US$415m(3) and is now a world market leader in cereals.
It was given provisional approval for use in the UK on some fungal diseases of wheat and barley in 1997(4), subject to approval at EU level. It was given Annex 1 approval in the EU in 1998 as a fungicide for use on cereals and vines(5). In the UK it is marketed as Amistar, and in the US as Heritage.
In 1998, the first year of its use in the UK, azoxystrobin was the 17th most used active ingredient in arable crops by area. It was used on 882,676 ha(6). 86 tonnes of azoxystrobin were applied, making it the 36th product most used by weight. In the broad-spectrum cereal fungicide market strobilurins took a 42% share in 1999, which is expected to have increased to 60% in 2000 mainly at the expense of triazole fungicides(7).
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