Triazole fungicides are widely used to treat fungal pathogens in field crops, but very few studies have investigated whether fields of these crops constitute hotspots of azole resistance in Aspergillus fumigatus. Soil samples were collected from 22 fields in two regions of eastern France and screened for triazole residues and azole-resistant A. fumigatus (ARAf). Real-time quantitative PCR (qPCR) was used to quantify A. fumigatus in these soil samples. All the plots contained tebuconazole at concentrations from 5.5 to 19.1 ng/g of soil, and 5 of the 22 plots also contained epoxiconazole. Only a few fungal isolates were obtained, and no ARAf was detected. A. fumigatus qPCR showed that this fungal species was, on average, 5000 times more common in soil from flowerbeds containing ARAf than in soil from field crops. Thus, field-crop soils do not appear to promote A. fumigatus development, even if treated with azole fungicides, and cannot be considered hotspots of resistance. Indeed, our results suggest that they are instead a coldspot of resistance and highlight how little is known about the ecological niche of this species.
Keywords: Aspergillus fumigatus; coldspot; field crop; qPCR; resistance; triazole.