Key Points
- Fungicide treatments gave significant disease control, yield increases, and margins on the disease susceptible cultivar Savannah for the third year in succession.
- Stripe rust early in the season meant the best yields and margins came from three spray programmes.
- A correlation was apparent between GLA of the final 3 leaves at GS85, and final yield. Retention of GLA was directly attributable to the use of fungicides.
- Over three seasons (different diseases) treatments comparing different strobilurin products have been hard to separate. Two spray ‘straddle’ programmes which apply fungicide at GS33 & 47/55 have performed well.
- The new strobilurin Comet appears to be performing well although more work is required to further examine its optimum timing and rate.
- To minimise the risk of strobilurin resistance occurring, it is advised to limit strobilurin use to no more than two applications per season. FAR will continue to research the optimal approach to reduce NZ cereal fungicide programmes to include two or fewer strobilurins.