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DISEASE CONTROL IN SUGAR BEET NOW CRITICAL
Date added: 10/07/08 |
All sugar beet crops will now justify a fungicide treatment every year. says ProCam’s Technical Director, Dr. David Ellerton.
“A single fungicide treatment of either a straight triazole or a triazole mix will result in a 5-10% yield response, with the higher percentage being associated with a higher disease risk. In very high disease risk responses can be as high as 15-20%, well worth having,” he says.
Optimising inputs in order to get maximum yields is now a priority for all sugar beet growers as they aim to maintain this crops profitability. Preventing a number of damaging diseases such as powdery mildew, rusts, Ramularia and Cercospora has an important role to play in helping to maximize these yields, he says.
“Spraying should start from mid July onwards, preferably just before disease takes off. In a high risk situation two sprays are better than one, with the second spray being timed a few weeks after the first. In most cases and most years however a well-timed full dose treatment will do just as well.”
Product recommendations revolve around a full dose of Genie (fluzilazole), Spyrale (difenconazole and fenpropidin) or the new product from Bayer CropScience, Escolta (cyproconazole and trifloxystrobin). Both Spyrale and Escolta have a broader disease spectrum than the straight triazole, so if diseases other than powdery mildew such as Cercospora, Ramularia or rusts are a problem then go for the triazole mix. They all do a very good job, Dr. Ellerton says.
“Just a couple of warnings though, Genie has a 7 week Harvest Interval, Spyrale has a Harvest Interval of 28 days and Escolta 21 days Harvest Interval, so you must be aware of this when planning your programme. Also the crop needs at least four weeks after treatment to get the full yield response.”
As far as powdery mildew is concerned, still the most important sugar beet disease, it appears to be a fairly average risk year, so all crops would benefit from treatment, he concludes.
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