Arable
Spray strategy offers growers chance to ‘judge for yourself’
• Encouraging results on green leaf area • Effective disease control at T3 stage • Spray gives good return on investment
conazole + bixafen) as a winter wheat T3 ear spray a few sea- sons ago, it raised a few eyebrows among his farming neighbours. Mr Mathieson saw it as a
W
chance to help maintain green leaf area a bit longer at Crawley Hall, Norton, near Bury St Edmunds. That thinking has gained ground in recent years – so last season two more eastern farmers decid- ed to test the idea as part of Bay- er’s Judge for Yourself initiative. Growers were invited to under- take split field trials where Avia- tor was held until the ear spray (T3), and Proline (prothioconazole) brought forward to T1 (final leaf 3 emerged) with the addition of CTL – in essence a swap from Bayer’s standard programme.
Both programmes started with
a CTL + tebuconazole T0 and As- cra (prothioconazole + bixafen + fluopyram) made up the flag leaf spray (T2).
Intriguing results
One season isn’t sufficient to draw any conclusions but the results are intriguing. David Hoyles of Long Sutton, Lincolnshire saw identical yield and moisture content from Bayer’s standard programme and the test plot – 12.5 t/ha and 11.4% respectively. Meanwhile, Andrew Cook of
Dunmow, Essex, used two fields of Crusoe. Yields ranged from 12.33 to 13.17 t/ha but differences be- tween the two approaches in yield, specific weight and moisture con- tent were slight. Bayer’s Jack Hill feels last sea- son a case could be made for Avia- tor at T1 or T3. “Early in the sea- son there was a fair bit of Septoria around and the extra activity that bixafen offers helped leaves two and three hold on to green leaf area,” he says.
16 ANGLIA FARMER •APRIL 2019
hen Suffolk farmer Charles Mathieson used Aviator (prothio-
“But the threat changed from Septoria to brown rust with the warm spring. Prothioconazole and bixafen combined are highly ac- tive against brown rust so when Aviator was held until the T3 it delivered effective control of the disease.”
When it comes to this season
he says switching Aviator to T3 might be possible in some situa- tions. “An azole + chlorothalonil T1 is a possibility on wheat vari- eties that are less susceptible to Septoria, which could open up the second SDHI fungicide being ap- plied on the ear.”
Return on investment What isn’t up for debate is the return on investment from fun- gicides. “It was our lowest mean result ever yet it was still 1.2t/ha. Our standard programme cost is approximately £100/ha so with wheat at £160/t it is close to a £100/ha return.” Mr Hill puts that down to
the combination of Septoria and brown rust control, and some physiological effects on the plant. Between 2015 and 2017, Bayer measured green leaf area to look for variation in fungicide perfor- mance, and correlation with yield. Where green leaf area after the flag leaf has emerged is main- tained above 35%, it showed it is typically worth 0.45 t/ha per day. The combination that main-
Charles Mathieson says Aviator prolongs green leaf area as a winter wheat T3 ear spray
tained green leaf area for longest was Aviator at T1, followed by As- cra at T2. What is particularly in- teresting about the research is the consistency of results. Over three seasons, green leaf area retention and yield responses from the treat- ments was broadly the same.
“
Greening differences This was also seen in 2016/17 YEN entries from Mr Hoyles’ Long Sut- ton site, again via Bayer’s Judge
Choosing the most appropriate actives is critical
for Yourself initiative. To verify greening differences, NDVI im- aging was used to record chlo- rophyll content from three YEN plots, each having a different fun- gicide programme.
Differences in green leaf area were reflected in final yield which ranged from 11.02 t/ha to 11.92 t/ ha. Again it was the same Aviator/ Ascra combination that delivered the highest yield.
Mr Hill sees greening proper- ties as added extras. “Fungicide product and dose still has to be dic- tated by disease pressure at each timing.,” he says.
Monitor farm examines prospects for spring crops continued from p14
of the crops examined. Spring malting barley came out on top for potential gross margins. But AHDB senior ana- lyst James Webster warns that malting barley also has the high- est risk – especially considering the uncertain feed demand. “At the moment, the outlook
for new crop prices isn’t looking particularly positive, with quite a few downward pressures com- ing in. There is still a lot of wheat to be exported globally and an in- creased wheat area in some of the major exporting nations.” The other important thing is attention to detail, especial- ly growing quality crops such
as oats. Brin Hughes from Rich- ardson oat millers in Bedford says key qualities include bush- el weight, screenings, moisture, admix, colour, kernel content and hullability or hulling losses. For details about the summer farm walk, call Teresa Meadows on 07387 015465 or email teresa.
meadows@ahdb.org.uk
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