The organization known as the Fungicide Resistance Action Committee (FRAC) was established by industry and research scientists to be an overseeing group to monitor fungicide resistance and provide guidelines for the development of products with long-term utility.
Fungicides have become an integral part of efficient food production. The loss of a fungicide to agriculture through resistance is a problem that affects us all. FRAC works to prolong the effectiveness of fungicides liable to encounter resistance problems and to limit crop losses should resistance appear.
This committee established the FRAC code, which identifies different target sites within specific modes of action for all active ingredients. Usually, there is a small rectangular box on every fungicide label where the FRAC number is located.
When the FRAC code shows only one number, it implies that the fungicide contains a single active ingredient but if a fungicide contains two active ingredients, two numbers will be shown. For example, a FRAC code shown as ‘group 7’ indicates that the fungicide is a succinate dehydrogenase inhibitor (SDHI) whereas group 11 is Quinone outside inhibitors (QoI which includes strobilurins). However, if both 7 and 11 appear on the label, it means the fungicide has active ingredients belonging to the two groups.
Some specific examples of fungicide resistance have been seen in different crops and are discussed below. If a fungus is resistant to a specific fungicide active ingredient within a FRAC Code, then it will most likely be resistant to all fungicides with the other active ingredients in the same FRAC Code.
FRAC-MOA-Poster-2022
FRAC Mode of Action Poster