Don’t assume that Fusarium Ear Blight (FEB) pressure will be reduced this season. That is the warning from one of Britain’s leading Fusarium experts, Fera’s Dr Phil Jennings.

“Dry spring weather assists inoculum build up on crop debris for the key threats of Fusarium culmorum, Fusarium graminearum and Microdochium, but cooler April temperatures have inhibited this so far. “It is almost a mirror of last season. Dry spring weather but cooler temperatures checking inoculum build up. However, it is the weather at flowering that ultimately determines the severity of FEB infection, and last season many areas were hit by humid, showery conditions as crops started to flower.”

For him he would advise against any change to T3 strategies. He says cutting rates of prothioconazole or substituting it with another azole is risky. “You can never predict the weather at flowering and since 2007 the disease has never really gone away,” he says.

Bayer’s Tim Nicholson agrees and warns that crops could see higher foliar pressure too. “We saw last year Septoria develop very late in the season with wet weather during June. To give the persistence needed for ear and foliar protection I would stick with 0.55 L/ha rates of Proline275 (prothioconazole),” he says.

To read the full article: http://cropscience.bayer.co.uk/news-and-opinion/articles/2017/05/fusaria-warning-despite-lack-of-stem-based-symptoms/

*This article contains sponsored content and does not necessarily represent the views of The Scottish Farmer.