Barley Fungicide

How in furrow and seed dressing fungicide treatments compare, for the control of Net type Blotch. examining ROI
Which foliar treatment following 200mL Uniform & 1.8L/T of Vibrance provides the greatest A) control of Net Blotch and B) highest subsequent ROI in Planet barley

Tincurrin, WA, 2018

Summary

This trial was established near Dudinin, Western Australiaon the 24th of May 2018. With Spartacus and Planet barley set todominate the varieties grown in WA we wanted to investigate the best fungicideprogram to deal with Net & Spot type of Blotch. (both varieties are SVS) Webelieve Uniform at 200mL in combination with Vibrance at 1.8L/tonne will be thestandard treatment going forward, providing good suppression of root diseasessuch as rhizoctonia, crown rot & pythium as well as extended control of theblotches.

Treatment List 1. aims at comparing 5 upfront treatmentsfollowed by Prosaro and the same 5followed by Tilt. From a resistancePOV following Uniform with a strobilurinshould not happen. Hence, we are comparing the cheap but effectivepropiconazole to the more premium broader-spectrum combination ofprothiaconazole and tebuconazole.

Treatment List 2. Takes our predicted future standardtreatment (Uniform + Vibrance) andcompares 8 different foliar treatments. From the cheapest option to morepremium options such as Aviator Xpro.

Early infection was present as the site had no summer rainwhich resulted in spores being released at the break of season. Diseasepressure later in the season subsided with a dry September. Systiva providedthe best early control with Uniform at 400mL taking the lead at the 120 DATrating. With a soft finish to the season differences in yield were smoothed,however healthy ROI’s were achieved across all treatments.

Methodology

Treatment List 1

Treatment List 2

Experimental Design

Site, Crop & Application Details

Assessment Methods

Data Analysis

All data analysis in this report was conducted using Microsoft Excel. Simple means, analysis of variance and the student t-test were used to determine statistical significance using the least significant difference method with a 90% confidence interval.

Results – In furrow/seed treatments

% Leaf area Infected (Combined)

Figure 1: Infection ratings at the 28, 42 & 120 DAT timings

10 tillers per treatment were pulled per plot and the top 3leaves rated for % infection. The above graph is the average of not only thetop three leaves but the Spartacus and Planet barley treatments. Hence theabove is an average of 60 tillers per treatment. The addition of Vibrance hasprovided a level of control from seed borne net blotch with the azoxystrobin inUniform providing the extra kick, especially later on in the season where theUniform treatments caught up to/ overtook Systiva.

Yield Vs. ROI

Results – Foliar

Infection Ratings (30 DAT)

Figure 3: Infection ratings of the top 3 leaves of 10 tillers per plot.

All treatments provided good control with Aviator Xpro,Elatus Ace, Prosaro & TopNotch the better performers. We saw a good rateresponse with Tilt from 250mL/Ha to 500mL/Ha however the 500mL rate of Opusseemed to perform significantly worse than the lower rate?

Yield

With an LSD of 861 Kg/Ha there are no significantlydifferent treatments. There is a lot of noise in the yield data making itdifficult to draw any conclusions. However, Aviator Xpro and TopNotch showedthe highest numerical gain with a 300 – 600 Kg/Ha response.

Results – Planet & Spartacus

Figure 5: Average yield of all Planet treatment combinations.

The top yielding treatment strategies in this trial for Planet barley are:

200mL Uniform + 1.8L/T Vibrance followed by 300mL Avaitor Xpro @ GS30
200mL Uniform + 1.8L/T Vibrance followed by 400mL TopNotch @ GS30 (**It is not recommended to follow Uniform with a product containing a stroby.**)
1.5L/T Systiva followed by Prosaro @ GS30

Figure 6: Average yields of all Spartacus treatment combinations.

The top yielding treatment strategies in this trial forSparticus barley are:

200mL Uniform + 1.8L/T Vibrance followed by200mL Prosaro @ GS30
200mL Uniform + 1.8L/T Vibrance followed by250mL Tilt @ GS30
1.5L/T Systiva followed by 250mL Tilt @ GS30

Conclusion

The 2018 season saw impressive barley yields across thestate which means going forward we can expect to see more barley grown as wellas more barley on barley. Although this is not ideal and for farmers to remainsustainable into the long-term, good rotations are paramount. However, thereare times when tight rotations are necessary to remain economicallyfeasible.

In this trial, we have determined that the best in furrow/seedtreatment strategy for disease control and yield in Spartacus and Planet barleyis the combination of 1.8L/T of Vibrance + 200mL Uniform or 1.5L/T of Systiva. Uniformin furrow is convenient for growers as they can easily add/subtract from theirprogram as they see fit on a paddock by paddock basis.

Avaitor Xpro is the clear winner from a foliar strategy withProsaro a good option. The disease pressure in this trial was relatively low.Hence the response from Aviator Xpro is encouraging.

TopNotch also performed exceptionally well, however not recommended on top of Uniform. Hence it would be a solid option following Systiva.