Arable
Wheat growers gearing up for first full season with new septoria fungicide With decisions on T2 fungicide applications just around the corner, many wheat growers will have Univoq in mind for the first time. It was launched by Corteva Agriscience in 2021, but UK registration came too late for enough product to enter the country in time to fulfil all demands for May sprays last year. Now, product availability is good and the experiences of farmers who used Univoq last year are likely to encourage treatments to a significant acreage of the crop in just a few weeks. Univoq contains the unique Inatreq active molecule, but Corteva says that the added efficacy is largely thanks to its patented i-Q4 formulation which allows the fungicide to stick to and spread across the leaf. There is no cross-resistance to existing cereal fungicide chemistries, and it can also be applied at good forward speeds and at low water volumes, where required.
On-farm experience One farmer who had his first Univoq experience last year was Adrian Joynt (right). He is convinced that Univoq has a greening effect after noticing the flag leaf stayed green for four days longer than average. Mr Joynt, from Apley Home Farm in Shifnal, grew 268ha of winter wheat in 2021 and opted to try the new chemistry at the T2 timing. Septoria is a big concern for Mr Joynt, whose choice of wheat varieties is largely driven by their disease score. “Yield is up there and I like a variety with decent specific weight but the main criteria, as there isn’t a big difference in weight between them, is a decent septoria score,” he said. Drilling of Wolverine, Graham, Costello, Gleam and SY Insitor began on 25th September 2020. “The crop established fairly well, although the
weather was a bit patchy and we didn’t quite get all the planned area in.” Univoq was applied during T2 at a rate of 1.25-litres on some fields, and a slightly lower rate on others. The crop stayed reasonably clean, with the farm avoiding a late outbreak of septoria. “I’d say there was marginally less disease than usual, but the one thing my agronomist and I definitely noticed is that the flag leaf stayed green for an additional three to five days on the Univoqtreated crops,” Mr Joynt commented. “My gut feeling was that this was partially due to Univoq keeping the disease out for longer. But we did wonder whether there is some kind of greening effect from using the product.” Mr Joynt reports that yields were definitely up thanks to Univoq. “Without a doubt, you could see on the combine yield map the line where we’d applied Univoq.” New sites of action don’t come along too often, and Corteva’s cereal fungicide product manager, Mike Ashworth (right), explained why the chemistry is an important new tool in the box. “The major strength of Univoq is its robust control of septoria – the number one disease threat and yield robber on UK arable farms,” he said. “Inatreq active works differently than every other cereal fungicide available to farmers in the UK. Over the past decade of development, it has demonstrated the ability to keep crops greener for longer, allowing plants to fulfil their yield potential.”
Anecdotally, prior to registration, those working with Univoq expressed interest in its ability to consistently keep diseases out of the crop and boost yields when compared to other chemistry on the market. Those observations followed through into trials last year conducted across 36 sites in England and Scotland. They revealed that Univoq delivers an average yield benefit of 0.25t/ha over Revystar XE, outperforming the previous market standard more than 80% of the time. The uplift in yield is calculated to be worth £50/ ha to growers, when the wheat price is £200/t. At the time of writing, with the price of wheat significantly higher, farmers are set for an even greater return. “2021 was a high disease pressure year, and we know that Univoq’s major strength is septoria control, so it gave the fungicide the chance to really show what it is capable of,” said Mr Ashworth. “We have seen this excellent yield response for many years, so this is not a surprise, but the data presented from last year’s harvest shows a clear advantage which can be directly linked to a greater return on a grower’s investment.” A standard application at the T2 timing is 1.25-litres/ha, but rates can be adjusted up to 1.5-litres/ha or down to 1.1-litres/ha, depending on variety and disease prevalence.
Investment in crop insurance Andrew Mahon (right), farm manager at the 1,000ha Bromborough Estate Company near Wellingborough in Northamptonshire, has been using the product on a small area of crops since 2018 but last year was able to cover a much larger area. He said he views a T2 fungicide as an investment in crop insurance on his 700ha of combinable crops on heavy clay. They are grown in a rotation of winter and spring wheat, winter beans, spring oats and linseed. “Septoria is very much our number one disease threat, although it’s a few years since we’ve seen high levels. Last year, April was dry, cold and frosty and it wasn’t until late May that growth picked up.” For T2, Elatus Era (benzovindiflupyr+ prothioconazole) was put on at 0.8-litres/ha with 1.25-litres/ha of Univoq on two tramlines as a comparison. “I flew the drone across the field, and you could see the Univoq area appeared to hold on to its green leaf better,” he said. The additional green leaf exposure was apparently integral to a greater yield return. He harvested his crop on 11th August, and the Univoq-treated crop showed a significantly higher return. “Our wheats usually average 9.6t/ ha, with this field yielding 10.6t/ha. But there was a 0.3–0.4t/ha advantage where the Univoq had been applied,” he said. “Univoq did the job and delivered a good result. We are planning to be using more of it this year. “My view is that, whatever the risk, the investment will be worth it against septoria.” FG
38 www.farmersguide.co.uk May 2022
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20/04/2022 14:39
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