Essential Oil-Based Biofungicide Against Cercospora beticola: Formulation Development and Field Evaluation

Cercospora leaf spot, caused by C. beticola, remains the most damaging foliar disease of sugar beet. Increasing resistance to fungicides highlights the need for alternative solutions. Essential oils, due to their intrinsic antifungal properties, represent a promising complementary strategy, and are being explored for the development of effective biofungicides. The objective of this study was to identify and develop an essential oil-based biofungicide against Cercospora beticola by: 1. Screening selected essential oils for antifungal activity, 2. Formulating the most promising active substance into a stable, easy to use product 3. Evaluating its efficacy under field conditions within a spray program. This study demonstrates the potential of essential oil-based biofungicides as a viable strategy to control C. beticola. The developed formulation showed good stability and consistent efficacy under field conditions, with performance comparable to conventional fungicide programs and significant improvements over the untreated control.
These results highlight the potential relevance of EO-based solutions within integrated disease management strategies. Further work is required to optimise efficacy and confirm
performance robustness across a wider range of environmental conditions and spray
programs.