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27 April 2021 - by Andrew Bailey - Cereals Fungicide Technical Specialist
2 min

2021 - Spring fungicide applications: the agronomist’s view

Regular readers may remember our Spring 2020 interview with independent agronomist Ben Burrows of Crop Management Partners who shared his views on how growers should protect wheat and barley crops once the final use-up date for chlorothalonil came into effect.

In this blog we revisit Ben to find out how crops are faring this year and to discuss his current thoughts for crop protection protocols in 2021.

How are arable crops in your patch looking so far this season? What’s the current level of disease in these crops, and how are growers keeping them healthy?

Ben: As with last year’s crops there is a wide variability in the field, with some crops – especially those drilled on free-draining land – establishing really well last autumn. Unfortunately, some crops on heavier ground with poor drainage suffered as a result of the wet winter conditions and subsequent dry spring. There’s not a great deal growers can do about this now, and there’s certainly nothing they can do to influence the weather, so it’s a case of managing their crops – however they may look – as best they can during the remainder of the spring and into the summer.

With regards to barley in particular, what are the key diseases growers should be wary of, and have you seen an increase in the incidence of ramularia?  

Ben: Rust seemed to be a feature in many barley crops earlier in the spring, with infections still present in some quantity where fungicides were late being applied. There is also quite a lot of rhynchosporium and net blotch around, particularly where we have winter barley following spring barley, with the extent of the problem directly correlating to the number of spring barley volunteers. A number of my clients grow Maris Otter and, as per usual for this variety, they certainly saw a reasonable amount of rhynchosporium before their first fungicides went on.

There hasn’t been a significant increase in the incidence of ramularia in my patch, at least not over the last year or two, but of course we were still using CTL until fairly recently so the picture may now start to change.

Ramularia isn’t always the easiest disease to identity amongst physiological leaf spotting or stress damage, so it’s certainly one to keep a watchful eye out for. 

How are you planning to deal with any future outbreaks of ramularia this season?  

Ben: Stresses such as drought and cold tend to make crops more susceptible to ramularia. Unfortunately, we’ve had quite a sustained period of dry and frosty weather so far this spring which means some of the more advanced crops are likely to be under a certain amount of stress. Anything we can do to reduce this pressure – such as good nutrition, applying appropriate rates of a PGR and avoiding the use of overly strong tank mixes – should help.

If and when we see outbreaks of disease in a particular crop, we will need to determine how the crop potential looks and decide on an appropriate course of remedial action, such as applying a curative product like Revysol.

With CTL no longer an option, will your crop protection strategy in barley change, and how important do you feel it is to include a multi-site fungicide from a resistance management point of view? 

Ben: It’s our first full year without CTL so we’re still learning. To be completely honest I’m not sure how we’ll change our fungicide strategy in barley, but my initial thoughts are that, as a first step, we need to reduce stress on the crop where and when we can. After that it’s going to be a case of using a combination of different fungicide modes of action and not relying too heavily on a particular group or active ingredient.

I’m certainly a strong advocate of including a multi-site fungicide as a resistance management tool and I’ll be interested to see how well folpet works against ramularia as a replacement for CTL this year.

ARIZONA Barley Recommendations 

Use ARIZONA® early to protect

Rhynchosporium: T1 0.75 - 1.0 L/ha

Best guidelines for Ramularia: T1 0.75 - 1.0 L/ha Fb T2 1.0 L/ha

Flexible to start programmes early T0 – 0.75 L/ha – season dependent

ARIZONA Barley Recommendations

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Andrew Bailey - Cereals Fungicide Technical Specialist
Andrew Bailey - Cereals Fungicide Technical Specialist
One of the UK arable sector’s most experienced fungicide specialists. With a background in applied biology (specialising in crop science and plant pathology), and with a career spanning 30 years in field based research, fungicide development and fungicide technical support, Andy has worked in the crop protection sector on a UK, European and global level.

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