Fungicides

Fungicide, also called antimycotic, any toxic substance used to kill or inhibit the growth of fungi. Fungicides are generally used to control parasitic fungi that cause economic damage to crop or ornamental plants. Most agricultural and horticultural fungicides are applied as sprays or dusts. Seed fungicides are applied as a protective covering before germination.

Fungicides kill pathogenic or parasitic fungi by disrupting their critical cellular processes. For example, many fungicides bind with specific enzymes to interrupt the metabolic pathways involved with cellular respiration.

Fungicides can either be contact, translaminar or systemic. Contact fungicides are not taken up into the plant tissue and protect only the plant where the spray is deposited. Translaminar fungicides redistribute the fungicide from the upper, sprayed leaf surface to the lower, unsprayed surface. Systemic fungicides are taken up and redistributed through the xylem vessels. Few fungicides move to all parts of a plant. Some are locally systemic, and some move upwardly.