Rooting benefits of penthiopyrad

Preliminary experiments at UoN suggest that foliar application of the succinate dehydrogenase inhibitor (SDHI) fungicide penthiopyrad confers rooting benefits on wheat and oilseed rape. In both species, root dry weights in pot experiments increased in a dose-dependent manner. The mode of action of penthiopyrad in increasing root biomass is currently unknown but is not linked to SDHI fungicide activity as other foliar applied SDHIs do not show this. The phytohormone auxin is a key determinant of root growth through which penthiopyrad may act - a pilot experiment using auxin reporters in the model species Arabidopsis thaliana suggests that root auxin levels are reduced following application. This project has two main objectives: examination of the rooting benefits of penthiopyrad and determination of the mode of action. This will be achieved using a combination of pharmacological, genetic, molecular and cell biological approaches.