Laboratory studies were conducted to evaluate the risk of Phytophthora capsici developing resistance to two morphlines, dimethomorph and flumorph. Metalaxyl, the well-known high risk of resistance fungicides, was used as reference fungicide. Resistant mutants for the three fungicides were isolated by treating mycelium with ultraviolet radiation. Metalaxyl-resistant mutants were obtained with high frequency and exhibited high level of resistance with factors more than 100 folds, while mutation frequency for dimethomorph-resistance was relatively low and the resistance factors ranged from 3.0 to 13.9 folds. Most dimethomorph-resistant mutants decreased in hyphal growth rate and the spoulation ability, which have a large impact upon the epidemic development of dimethomorph-resistant populations. These results suggested that the risk of resistant pathogen population was much lower for dimethomorph than for metalaxyl. Both the frequency of developing resistance and level of resistance （resistance factors = 1.8-14.6） to dimethomorph were similar to those of its structure analogue flumorh. Moreover, the cross-resistance were found between them, which suggested the risks of developing resistance to dimethomorph and flumorph in the pathogen were very closely related. As P. capsici can potentially develop resistance to dimethomorph and flumorph, and oomycetes usually have the high risk to develop resistance to fungicides, appropriate management against resistance development should be taken.
