Fungicides Promising Yield Bumps In Tough Times

Frogeye Leaf Spot on soybean

Soybean growers have been dealing with strobilurin-resistant strains of frog eye leaf spot.

Chemical companies express varied levels of optimism about how fungicides will fare when it comes time to map out growers’ input programs this year. With disappointing financial returns for growers in 2014, and corn prices now fluctuating at the $4 mark, an air of uncertainty hovers over the market.

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Overall, fungicide sales were down last year, but companies seemed to each have one or two products that shined.

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What were they up against in fields? Overall, disease pressure appeared lower than usual. Randy Myers, fungicides technical development manager at Bayer CropScience, notes that cooler temperatures in 2014 slowed the development of disease in most areas. But Northern corn leaf blight, which likes those cooler conditions, came in almost six weeks earlier than normal. “In some spots the pressure was so high that a second fungicide treatment was needed to preserve yield potential.”

The disease also hit hard late season, reports Megan Andriankaja with BASF’s plant health technical service team. Many growers did not see it showing up around tassel, so they didn’t apply a fungicide. Unfortunately, Northern corn leaf blight did move in, and “a lot of growers were caught off guard.”

She points out that the disease has a seven- to 12-day latency period. Spores will land on the leaf but it takes a while for them to destroy enough leaf tissue to see symptoms. “It’s still beneficial to apply a fungicide at tassel — that way crops are protected — or even if that disease doesn’t come in, the plant health benefits of boosting photosynthesis will ensure maximum yields,” she says.

Products In Action

ADAMA entered the fungicide space last year with Custodia, a premix of azoxytrobin (commonly sold as Quadris) and tebuconazole. Matt Bradley, ADAMA brand leader, says Custodia offers growers an optimized formulation which includes two of the most complementary systemic fungicides on the market today. The simultaneous movement within the plant of Custodia’s preventive and curative active ingredients quickly knocks down diseases and provides a residual barrier to inhibit any newly forming diseases.

Custodia controls a wide array of diseases, and its label covers corn, soybeans and wheat under three different application rate platforms. This approach offers retailers convenience, allowing them to limit the number of fungicide products maintained in inventory.

Bradley notes that when applied at flag leaf or before, Custodia has been particularly effective against rust in wheat, with great action against leafspot as well.

Hitting in June, hailstorms from Nebraska to Minnesota gave Bayer a unique chance to evaluate Stratego YLD (active ingredients include a triazole/prothioconazole and a strobilurin/trifloxystrobin). While the fungicide couldn’t eliminate damage caused by the weather, it did help cut and scratched tissue heal faster and protected the plants’ photosynthetic capability. Some yield potential was salvaged and the corn stood better at harvest.

“An early season application of Stratego YLD, combined with a post herbicide at V4-V7 in corn, at a size-appropriate rate of just two ounces will not only improve stalk health and corn harvestability but also boost yields to the extent that the grower on average will realize additional profit — even at corn below $4,” says Thorsten Schwindt, fungicides product manager.

A new approach for disease control is emerging with introduction of products applied in-furrow. For instance, BASF’s Headline for use in-furrow in corn was launched last year.

The company also debuted the in-furrow product Xanthion, a combination of the same active ingredients as in Headline and Integral, a Bacillus biofungicide. The two modes of action offer protection from a wider disease spectrum. Trails with Xanthion in corn last year showed an increase of 513 plants per acre at seven to 14 days after planting — and an increase of 1,707 plants 21 days after planting, says Andriankaja.

“It really helped growers get that uniform stand emergence and make sure that no plant was left behind,” she adds. “If those plants are left behind, we know they’re going to turn into a weed and actually compete with the plants around it for nutrients.”

DuPont Crop Protection generally saw a very good increase in fungicide sales last year, much of it driven by introduction of a new premix, says Chris Hazel. Aproach Prima adds the triazole cyproconazole to picoxystrobin (Aproach). It was of particular help to the growing number of corn and soybean growers in the Midwest and Mid-South who face increasing disease pressure and fungicide resistance.

Specific Soybean Issues

DuPont’s Hazel relayed one soybean success story. A Wis­consin grower tried Aproach in a few rows in fields with a history of white mold, a disease that thrives in cold, wet climates. “Aproach has a unique ability to redistribute within the plant, to help protect those leaves that haven’t opened up yet,” she says. “That increases the protection of the plant under the crop canopy where the disease begins. This grower saw a 16 bushel per acre yield boost, much cleaner plants and less lodging.” And in Michigan, trials against white mold showed an 11 bushel per acre increase over untreated controls, when Aproach was applied at the R1 to R3 stage.

BASF’s Priaxor, a premix of Headline (strobilurin) and Xemium (carboxyamide) for soybeans and wheat, adds that second active ingredient for better disease control from “the same jug.” Andriankaja says soybean growers using Priaxor at the R3 stage saw about a 4.6 bushel per acre yield increase, thanks also to the product’s promise to improve root and shoot growth by boosting photosynthesis.

At the end of 2014, Bayer CropScience received EPA registration for ILeVO seed treatment, a product it calls the only solution for Sudden Death Syndrome (SDS) that has activity against nematodes.

Previously, growers have had limited options when it comes to SDS management: Seed variety tolerance and delayed planting dates. Bayer’s Myers says growers adding ILeVO to their Integrated Pest Management (IPM) program in combination with Poncho/VOTiVO can expect great protection and an average yield increase of two bushels per acre even when there are no visual symptoms of SDS.

In fields that have been infected with SDS, ILeVO has been shown to be effective in minimizing the impact of the disease on yield loss, and growers can expect yield increases of two to 10 bushels per acre depending on disease severity.

In January, Syngenta introduced Mertect 340-F fungicide for use in seed treatments with Clariva Complete Beans and CruiserMaxx Beans with Vibrance. Mertect 340-F has shown consistent performance and yield protection for soybeans under SDS pressure in four consecutive years of testing, says Wouter Berkhout, Seedcare product lead. It also offers additional activity on seedborne diseases such as Phomopsis and boasts a first-rate seed safety profile for germination and stand protection, he adds.

In The Works

Syngenta has also developed a new fungicide for corn, soybeans and wheat that the company hopes to have registered in 2015, says Eric Tedford, technical fungicide product lead. “This new fungicide will be called Trivapro, as it contains three broadspectrum active ingredients: Solatenol fungicide (a new SDHI fungicide), azoxystrobin and propiconazole,” he says.

Tedford says the three ingredients will work together to provide an excellent new tool for growers to use to control important yield-limiting diseases and enhance yield potential. “The combination of these three distinct modes of action will provide both preventive and curative disease control while also making it more difficult for fungal pathogens to develop resistance to the fungicide,” he emphasizes.

Most chemical companies said there were products in development. But DuPont’s Hazel did reveal the company is making investments in fungicide discovery — and is identifying new modes of action.

Around The Table Talk

ADAMA’s Bradley says fungicide purchases are traditionally the last dollar spent on a crop during the growing season. Most growers have a wait and see approach to disease management which can make early season retail sales of fungicide inputs challenging, he’s found.

Bradley says to make sure grower-customers understand the seed they’re planting, how susceptible it is to different diseases. “If they’re not going to make a preventative application, they need to at least be prepared to monitor the weather situation, scout the field and understand what environmental conditions those plants would be vulnerable to,” he explains.

Bradley believes “in the last five years farmers have made good money, and therefore made the decision to blanket a lot of acres with preventative disease control products.” He says fungicides will continue to be a viable agronomic input which, regardless of costs, typically provides solid ROI and improved plant health.

DuPont’s Hazel believes retailers can help in a new trend that the company’s dealers, growers and field development teams are seeing: Intensive management. The concept encompasses a lot of things, she says, but one is planting more narrow rows. It’s a great way to increase yields by putting in more plants per acre.

At the same time, this practice could increase the potential for disease. “As plants are closer together, the canopy is tighter, forming the right conditions (moist, humid) for disease development. If growers are making the investment to plant more of these elite genetics, they’re going to have to look for ways to protect it,” she adds. One way is to make one or better, two, fungicide applications.

BASF’s Andriankaja believes changing commodity prices are changing the market significantly. Some growers are changing what they plant based on the market. “But really the only tool that a grower has to combat the lower commodity prices is to increase yields,” she says. “That means growers are going to have to focus on having the best agronomic practices in place to maximize their yield output. Fungicides are part of that.”

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