Cura Crop 2017 – A closer look at disease

02.05.2018

Don’t judge a leaf by its colour.

How do you check your crop for disease? Glance over the leaves and look for any lesions or pustules? For years, this has been the case. But at BASF, we wanted to know whether there’s more to your crop than
meets the eye. That’s why last year we embarked on an innovative piece of research, attempting to bust the myth that no visible infection means no disease, even in a lower disease year.

What we did.

Before T2, we surveyed 132 farmers across the country to see what they thought about their crop’s health. We asked them, by looking at the leaves of their crops, to decide whether or not they thought they were infected with Septoria.

We wanted to compare this with our own genetic analysis, where presymptomatic (non-visible) infection can be measured.

So we took samples of leaves 1-4 and analysed their DNA using qPCR to reveal indications of disease.

What we found.

Instances of disease were far higher than the farmers’ original perception. 60% of the farmers thought their crops were free of disease but the DNA analysis shows disease levels are far higher.

Latent disease levels could be clearly detected by DNA analysis. At the T2 timing, the vast majority (75-90%) of lower leaves (L3 & L4) were infected.

What’s more, 50-65% of upper leaves (L1 & L2) were also infected.

What it means for your crop.

The results from the Cura Crop 2017 analysis have shown that regardless of whether your crop shows visible signs of disease or not, curative spray applications are still beneficial.

Every crop is at risk from Septoria and rust, even in an apparently low disease year. This has to be taken into account when making effective fungicide decisions.

Effective crop protection is about combating and managing infection in the best way possible.  Maintaining fungicide treatment, even when no disease is visible, could improve your crop’s performance.

Minimise your risk and for the best performing SDHI, choose Xemium®: proven to provide superb control of Septoria in wheat.

For the latest Cura Crop press release, please click here.

Adexar contains fluxapyroxad and epoxiconazole, Imtrex contains fluxapyroxad. Aviator contains bixafen and prothioconazole. Elatus Plus contains benzovindiflupyr. Elatus Era contains benzovindiflupyr and prothioconazole. Thore contains bixafen. Xemium is the brand name for fluxapyroxad. Adexar and Imtrex are registered Trade Marks of BASF. All other brands listed may be Trade Marks of other manufacturers and proprietary rights may exist. Always read the label and product information before use. For further product information including warning phrases and symbols, refer to agricentre.basf.co.uk.

* Cura Crop is an ongoing project run by BASF to test for the presence of Septoria DNA in wheat. 132 Samples were analysed from across the UK of treated and untreated parts of the plant canopy.

** n=5, Common T1; treatments applied at GS39. Summary of 5 trials with common T1 treatment. T2 treatments were applied at GS39 of the crop. In order to minimise risk of resistance development, all SDHI’s should be used in mixture with products with a different mode of action at a dose that will give robust control. These actives should be used in accordance with the instructions for use for the target diseases at the specific growth stages indicated on the label.