In this issue - cpm magazine · 2017. 2. 3. · Volume 19 Number 2 February 2017 *the claim ‘best read specialist arable journal’ is based on independent reader research, conducted

In this issue...Thinking globally page 66The pride and pain of farming in India

Fungicide foresight page 8

Machinery Mecca page 40LAMMA lines draw a captive crowd

New period for blight page 71

Volume 19 Number 2February 2017

*the claim ‘best read specialist arable journal’ is based on independent reader research, conducted by the

National Farm Research Unit 2014

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CPM Volume 19 No 2. Editorial, advertising and sales offices are at White House Barn, Hanwood, Shrewsbury SY5 8LP.

Tel: (01743) 861122. CPM is published ten times a year by CPM Ltd and is available free of charge to qualifying farmers

and farm managers in the United Kingdom.

In no way does CPM Ltd endorse, notarise or concur with any of the advice,recommendations or prescriptions reported in the magazine.

If you are unsure about which recommendations to follow, please consult a professional agronomist. Always read the label. Use pesticides safely.

CPM Ltd is not responsible for loss or damage to any unsolicited material,including photographs.

EditorTom Allen-Stevens

Technical editorLucy de la Pasture

Machinery editorJane Brooks

Writers

Design and productionBrooks Design

Advertisement co-ordinatorPeter Walker

PublisherAngus McKirdy

Business development managerCharlotte Alexander

To claim two crop protection BASIS points, send an email [email protected], quoting reference CP/51831/1617/g.

To claim two NRoSO CPD points, please send your name,NRoSO member number, date of birth and postcode [email protected]

Rob JonesLucy de la Pasture

Paul Spackman

Tom Allen-StevensJane Brooks

Charlotte Cunningham

TechnicalDisease control - Prolonging life for fungicidesBefore the sprayer swings into action in the coming spring, fungicide strategies are being decided.

Tech Talk - Beating the yellow perilYellow rust re-wrote the resistance ratings last season, proving an unexpected headache in several varieties.

Technical news - Hamlet or Atlantis this spring?With the option of Hamlet or Atlantis WG to control blackgrass this spring,which should growers plump for?

Innovation Insight - The remarkable power of the ‘wow’ effectAtlantis is the UK’s most widely used in-crop herbicide of recent years, but good stewardship has always determined its performance.

Nutrition - Fertilising for profit Refining nutrition is high on the agenda of many progressive farm businesses.

OSR agronomy - A fresh approach to OSR nutritionYields of OSR often fail to live up to their potential.

Theory to Field - New thinking a step forwardThere’s been a coming together of some of the most dynamic minds and businesses in our industry to form a new research consortium.

Research briefing - Cold comfort to bring on growthWith cereal crops well established but at a range of growth stages, early season PGR use has a crucial role in ensuring they reach their potential.

OpinionTalking Tilth – A word from the editor.Smith’s Soapbox – Views and opinions from an Essex peasant…..

Machinery Murmurs – News and views from CPM’s machinery editor

Last Word – A view from the field from CPM’s technical editor

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LAMMA 17 - Farming world flocks to LAMMAThose who made the annual pilgrimage to Peterborough found machinery lines bristling with new models and technology seen for the first time in the UK.

Fertiliser spreaders - When size mattersPrecision application of large amounts of fertiliser has become a priority for many farmers and contractors.

On Farm Opinion - Step-up on spreader techAn Amazone ZA-TS Profis Hydro fertiliser spreader has slotted right into the farming system on the Burton Agnes Estate, near Driffield in East Yorks.

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FeaturesInsiders View - Attributes could weigh in its favourIn a market of already very strong Group 4 competitors, there looks to be a new contender on the horizon.

Real Results - Confidence builds through on-farm trialsThere’s a move afoot to create a network of on-farm trials across the UK.

World farming - Strength in numbersIndia’s farming communities create a thriving rural hub for exchange of ideas, but suffer a lack of applied research and infrastructure challenges.

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Machinery

3crop production magazine february 2017

RootsPotato Agronomy - Criteria for blight evolvesThe new benchmark for predicting blight outbreaks was at last unveiled at AHDB’s Agronomist Conference in December.

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floor and from Twitter. She didhave “absolute confidence”

in Defra to deliver this, sheinsisted, but a show ofhands revealed the only

person in the 500-strongaudience to share this confidence was

farming minister George Eustice.The speech itself consisted

of a series of platitudesdesigned to reassure delegatesthey represent a thriving foodand farming industry, and thatthe Government is determined not to wreck it.

On regulation, there was aglimmer of good news. AndreaLeadsom promised there would be “no more six-foot EUbillboards littering the landscape;no more existential debates todetermine what counts as abush, a hedge or a tree; and nomore ridiculous, bureaucraticthree-crop rule.”

However, when questionedafterwards whether the UK would be able to maintain EUmarket access if it scrapped the three-crop rule, she revealedthat it will actually be “part of thediscussions with the EU”.

There is one move Defra hasmade towards Brexit that AndreaLeadsom, clearly bristling withpride, was able to announce:she’s launching a consultation.“This will be your chance to tellus your views and ambitions,”she said.

So when will we have the consultation? “Soon” –– clearlythe Defra we should all have“absolute confidence” in doesn’tknow how to set a date, either.

And this was the vaguenesswith which she responded to

every other question posed.Every decision will be “part of the green paper we’re launching–– we don’t yet have specific policy details.”

It is perfectly clear that Defrais clueless. The department hasbeen landed with the job ofreshaping UK farm policy –– ajob it never expected it wouldhave to do. It’s hopelessly under-resourced, lacking any skill whatsoever capable of fulfilling such a task, and, as wasdisplayed with aplomb at theconference, is now headed upby someone who’s equally clueless and really didn’t expectshe’d get the farming job.

What was also perfectly clear from the conference is that the farming community is notclueless –– far from it. A fringesession in which 15 EmergingLeaders –– progressive farmersspecially selected to attend theconference –– discussed farmingpolicy, made far more progress in45 mins than Defra has made insix months.

Delegate feedback reflectedthe disdain felt for the Defra secretary –– a new app theycould download to rate thespeakers gave her the lowest rating of the entire conference.Conversely, among those ratedhighest were Worcs hop farmerAli Capper and Jack Hamilton offamily farming business MashDirect in County Down.

Ali Capper has transformednot only the family’s fruit and hop business, but completelyrebranded British Hops, breathingnew life into a flagging sector.The Mash Direct story is an inspirational one of how a smallfarming potato business came to

How can Defra beso clueless?

Tom Allen-Stevens has a 170ha arable farm in Oxon, and doesn’t have the specific policy details onwhat will happen to it post [email protected]

There was a question put verysuccinctly to the UK’s farmingministers by Fiona Hanna, anarable farmer from NorthernIreland, and one of theEmerging Leaders attending the Oxford Farming Conferencelast month.

“What would you say toencourage and reassure those ofus early on in our farming career,when all of our questions seemnot to have available answers?”

It followed probably one of the most vacuous, flawed andobsequious speeches any Defrasecretary had ever delivered, ata time when, more than ever,farmers were seeking policydirection. It also came exactly 12 months after the previousDefra secretary Liz Truss hadbeen asked at Oxford what theGovernment’s Plan B was in theevent of Brexit.

So a year on, and six monthssince the historic referendum,how much progress had beenmade by Defra towards puttingtogether the bare bones of apost-2020 farming policy?

“I don’t have the specific policy detail,” Andrea Leadsomkept saying in response to questions that came in from the

Last chance for CPSB ticketsThe Crop Production in SouthernBritain conference takes place on 15-16 Feb at the Peterborough Arena. CPM readers can get a 25% discount on tickets. Seewww.aab.org.uk for details.

export champ –– mashed potatomixed with spring onions –– toDubai.

These are farmers who don’t waitaround for policy to be chewedover in the corridors of Whitehall.They make their own opportunitiesand set their own agenda. 2020 isbarely a cropping cycle away –– the cereals you plant this year may be the seed of the crop sold in a post-Brexit landscape. It means arable farmers haveplans to make and we cannot wait while Defra dithers.

So in this issue, CPM is callingon its readers to set their ownagenda –– you are the progressivefarmers and where you lead withyour businesses, others will benefitby following. As a starting point,we’ve partnered with BASF in itsReal Results initiative (see page66). This empowers farmers to conduct their own on-farm trials,and 50 growers will receive inputsand expert advice to help them do so –– there are places reservedexclusively for CPM readers.

This is just the start, andthroughout the year, we’ll be reporting on ways CPM readers aresetting the agenda for a post-BrexitBritain. And Andrea Leadsom hadbetter take note and ensure Defrapolicy falls in line.

The early months of the yearcan find me feeding the ‘hungrygap’. These are the months,we’re told by experts in allthings ornithology, that birds areon shortest measures when itcomes to things to forage on.

What’s more it’s the coldestpart of the year when birds needextra calories especially as they need to go into the springnesting season in good fettle.Accordingly, whenever I’m outwinter crop walking with the dog I take a handy couple of 10kgbuckets of wheat to scatter alongthe margins. I’d like to say it’s agood way to use up ‘tail corn’ butever since we took out the oldTurner dressers in the grain storesin the 1980s, we haven’t had ‘tailcorn’ any more.

Either way the birds seemgrateful. It’s remarkable how if you return to the spot the following day then it’s all gone.Although our ELS scheme

finished last autumn we’ve keptthe 4-6m grass margins in placeso these are the areas alongside

the hedges that we feed. Withchanges being brought in for

next year whereby it’ll nolonger be permitted to usepesticides on pulses

grown on EFA, we’ll takeout our bean crop and put in

our old ELS margins instead.So this year and going forward

they’ll be kept in place. Some of these margins go back to set-aside days so they’re now 25 years old. Some are on themarsh fields and are going intothe new Countryside Stewardshipscheme which started at thebeginning of the year. The worryhere is we’re yet to see the finalpaperwork so we can sign on thedotted line. It’s not often I start anagreement that isn’t actuallyagreed.

Being easily distracted whendoing this ‘we sow the seeds andscatter’ job, I imagine life beforethe seed drill when wheat wassown by hand. It’s probably myineptitude but it’s no easy featachieving 300 seeds/m2. Youneed to maintain an even groundspeed of a stride per sec. Thenthere’s bout width established byswing of the arm. Finally, there’srate dictated by size of handful.You do wonder if our ancient forefathers fretted about seedrates the way we do.

I was looking through a list ofnew fungicides in preparation

The hungry gap

Email your comments and ideas to [email protected]

Guy Smith grows 500ha of combinable crops on the north east Essex coast, namely St. OsythMarsh –– officially the driest spot in the British Isles. Despite spuriousclaims from others that their farms are actually drier, he points out that his farm is in the Guinness Book ofRecords, whereas others aren’t. End of.

for the 2017 disease-control programme and was struck by a few of the names such asConviso Smart, Trivapo, Solatenoland Ascra Xpro. I sometimes do wonder why we can’t go back toold-fashioned brand names likeCheetah or Tiger rather than this latest fashion to pick namesthat sound like they come fromold sci-fi movies starring JaneFonda. Trying to remember thisstuff is about as brain aching asstarting to learn Swahili.

But having said that I’m kind ofglad they’ve moved away fromthe macho brand names for agrochem nowadays.

Not that it’s ever happenedto me but I’ve always worriedwhether one day there’d be aknock on the door from Mr andMrs Worriedwell, newly moved in to a house close to a field near the farm. They’d say, “our daughter has a terribleheadache. We looked it up on theInternet and it said it could be areaction to pesticides and we didnotice you spraying that field nearus last week. It did smell a bitfunny so we were wondering whatwas the stuff you were spraying?”

Then it would be much betterto say, “I was spraying a tank-mixof Mistymorn and Puppylove”,rather than “that was Cyperkill andDagger”.

I’ve also thought it would begood if they could put nicersmelling additives into sprays. All too often when we’ve been

spraying, I’m reminded of myfavourite line in Apocalypse Now–– “Gad, I just love the smell ofNapalm in the morning”.

This is all the more pertinent asI notice Friends of the Earth havedeclared war on seed dressingssuch as Deter, determined to see them banned. One of theirconcerns seems to be the dustthat blows on the wind intohedgerows as seed is pouredinto drills. If that’s their worry, thenI’d be quite happy for a lawrequiring all insecticide seeddressings to be polymer based to minimise dust.

But one suspects thisisn’t about common-sense reasonableness on behalf ofFriends of the Earth but rather a public-facing campaigndemonising pesticides and wanting them banned. MeanwhileUK production continues to falland our competitors abroad gainthe advantage of continuing touse cost-saving pesticidesbanned in the UK.

6 crop production magazine february 2017

TechnicalDisease control

Before the sprayer swingsinto action in the coming

spring, fungicide strategiesare being decided as the

winter passes in a whirl ofconferences and technical

meetings. CPM finds out the latest on fungicide

performance and gleans theAdama view on how to best

protect chemistry and crops.

By Lucy de la Pasture and Paul Spackman

We can’t afford to get into a

curative situation withseptoria.

Prolonging life forfungicides “

”

The latest fungicide performance data wasunveiled by NIAB’s Stuart Knight at theAHDB Cereals and Oilseeds AgronomistConference in Dec. The headlines were a continuing slide in azole performanceagainst septoria and an increasing gap in efficacy between epoxiconazole andprothioconazole in a protectant situation,with the latter standing up better to resistance pressure.

“In an eradicant situation for septoria,there’s a much smaller difference in performance between the two azoles,though prothioconazole still appears to have a slight edge,” he notes.

The SDHI products all continued to givegood performance on septoria and are very hard to pull apart in terms of efficacy,he believes.

Additional control“Prising them apart for small differences,Ascra Xpro (bixafen+ fluopyram+ prothioconazole) looks to offer a degree of additional control over Aviator Xpro (bixafen+ prothioconazole). Vertisan(penthiopyrad) plus Ignite (epoxiconazole)performed slightly less well than the others.This could be due to a number of reasonsbut it’s important to remember the performance data is from single product trials so does not represent programmes that are used commercially in the field where these differences are unlikely to be significant.

In Jan, AHDB released comparative fungicide data that included the newly registered SDHI Elatus Era (benzovindiflupyr+ prothioconazole), from Syngenta.

According to Dr Paul Gosling, who

manages fungicide performance research at AHDB, “Elatus Era has only been in trialfor one year but we can be confident inreleasing the findings for septoria in wheatand rhynchosporium in barley, because theproduct was tested at multiple sites.

“Based on dose-response information,Elatus Era shows strong performanceagainst septoria and rhynchosporium in both protectant and eradicant situations.

“This is in line with the general performance of the best other commerciallyavailable fungicides tested and gives growers a useful alternative option as wehead into the 2017 spray season.”

How long the SDHIs maintain their fieldperformance on septoria, in light of theinsensitive strains detected in 2015, is thequestion everyone wants to know the answerto. ADAS’ Dr Neil Paveley presented theresults of monitoring during the 2016 season which found low-moderate SDHIinsensitivities in the late-season septoriasamples taken from SDHI-treated wheat fungicide trial sites. Fortunately, for themoment, highly insensitive strains remainrare so are unlikely to affect septoria controlin the field.

So how can we avoid selecting for fungicide-insensitive strains and prolong thelife of our current chemistry? Based on the


s

latest research findings, Neil Paveleybelieves azole applications, other than whenused as a partner to SDHIs, should be minimised where possible. Where SDHIs areapplied, he advises they should be usedwith a robust rate of azole and a multi-site.

“Multi-site acting fungicides have lowresistance risk. They should be used as mixture partners to enhance effectivenessand protect azoles and SDHIs againstresistance.

Minimum dose“Use the minimum dose of SDHI required to obtain effective control. The use of two applications of SDHI should be theexception, rather than the norm,” he warns.“But maintain flexibility in the programme touse two applications of products containingSDHI when needed.”

Multi-site chemistry should be the cornerstone of wheat fungicide strategiesthis spring if growers are to prolong the efficacy of SDHIs and triazoles, agreesAdama’s technical specialist, Andy Bailey.

“Although we haven’t seen a decrease infield performance of SDHIs yet, the threat isthere so we have to protect this single-sitemode of action chemistry from the start. The use of multi-sites is vital to prolong theeffective life of SDHIs and prevent furthererosion of azole efficacy.”

Azoles still offer a reasonable level of protectant activity, but their curative action isgreatly diminished and there has also beena notable increase in the number of highlyresistant septoria strains, he says. “This isconcerning as it will accelerate the erosionof field performance.”

Tighter regulation is further placing morepressure on the remaining actives, making it vital to protect what’s left, he adds.

The highly insensitive C-H152R strain of septoriawas found again in 2016 at low levels.

Neil Paveley believes two SDHI applicationsshould be the exception rather than the norm.

Septoria Protectant

Source: AHDB fungicide performance trials 2016.

Septoria Eradicant

Source: AHDB fungicide performance trials 2016.

Multi-sites for tackling septoria in wheatare chlorothalonil, folpet and mancozeb, allof which have proven very low resistancerisk. They’re best used early, in protectantsituations before disease is present, whichmeans the T0 and T1 spray timings are key,he adds.

“With good autumn establishment in many areas –– apart from some parts of the southeast –– there’s potential for thickadvanced crops going into spring, which will require early protection to minimise thechances of septoria development. We can’t afford to get into a curative situationwith septoria.”

He says fungicide choices should be tailored to specific varieties and field conditions, but in general he recommendsbeginning programmes with a robust dose of a multi-site, such as folpet, at T0.

Growers should avoid over-reliance on

azoles and consider alternatives, such as astrobilurin-based product where yellow rustrisk is high at this early timing. He suggests

s

Disease control


Modelling studies show the addition of folpet candouble the effective life of high-risk fungicides,says Andy Bailey.

The shift in septoria sensitivity to epoxiconazolewas greater than to prothioconazole in the 2016fungicide performance trials, says Stuart Knight.

saving robust (at least three-quarter rate)doses of azoles for use with an SDHI at T1 or T2.

Folpet also offers good yellow rust activity,he notes. Trials in Reflection (rated 6 for yellow rust) during 2016, found inclusion of folpet (1.5 l/ha Arizona) alongside epoxiconazole at T1 gave around 15% moregreen leaf retention than epoxiconazole pluschlorothalonil, worth an extra 0.79t/ha onfinal yield.

It’s also been shown that folpet canincrease plant uptake of partner products

applied in tank mix. In Silsoe spray trials,only 45% of the epoxiconazole applied withchlorothalonil was taken up by wheat plants10 hours after application, compared with55% in the epoxiconazole plus folpet mix. After 25 hours the gap was morepronounced, at 45% and 70% uptake

respectively.“We’ve seen the same trend with

prothioconazole and fluxapyroxad, althoughthe difference wasn’t as stark as with epoxiconazole.”

Recent research suggests folpet couldalso prolong the life of fungicides at high risk of resistance development.

Modelling studies by ADAS andRothamsted Research found the inclusion of folpet doubled the life expectancy of highrisk fungicides. The studies looked at the‘effective life’ of products, defined as thenumber of years during which the fungicidecan keep the loss of the crop canopy’shealthy area duration below 5% during the yield-forming period.

In the case of epoxiconazole, the effectivelife when used in a variable dose tank mixstrategy increased from 8 to 16 years, while for strobilurins it increased from four to eight years.

This was further supported in 2014 fieldtrials by Irish research body Teagasc,

Disease control

where the inclusion of folpet with full-rateepoxiconazole at two timings (GS 31 and 39) reduced the number of insensitiveseptoria strains compared with straightepoxiconazole. “Adding folpet appears toreinforce protection of the azole and reduceselection pressure,” explains Andy Bailey.

A similar, but less pronounced, effect wasseen when folpet was included with Vertisan(penthiopyrad) plus prothioconazole, he adds. n


provide may not be there anymore.NIAB technical director,

Bill Clark, shares his expertise onthis fast-evolving disease and howto deal with it.

What is yellow rust? Yellow rust is caused by the fungus Puccinia striiformis, whichhas distinct forms that are specificto different crops. P. striiformisf.sp.tritici can attack wheat and triticale and P. striiformisf.sp.hordei can only attack barley.Within the forms of P. striiformisthere are races which can onlyattack particular varieties.

P. striiformis requires livinggreen plant material in order tosurvive. The fungus survives thewinter as dormant mycelium oractive sporulating lesions on volunteers or early autumn-sown

There is nothing more valuablethan conducting trials on yourown farm, using your own kit andunder the vagaries of your own,local conditions.

Which is why BASF is inviting 50 farmers to workwith us, ADAS and precision ag expert, AgSpace,to undertake wheat fungicide trials this year.To sign up go to www.basfrealresults.co.uk

Almost every Reflection growerhad a wake-up call last seasonwhen yellow rust was widelyreported to be affecting the variety at higher levels than wasexpected by its RL rating forresistance to the disease. Andthey weren’t alone –– yellowrust was on the rampage andappeared to be showing littlerespect for the resistance genesbreeders had designated in varieties to hold it in check.

Where timely control measureswere applied, yellow rust didn’tprove to be disastrous, but itbrought home the point that there’sno substitute for keeping a closeeye on crops in the field. The dayshave gone where yellow rustresistance ratings can provide asense of security –– the timelinessbuffer that resistant varieties

Beating theyellow perilYellow rust re-wrote the resistance ratingslast season, proving an unexpectedheadache in several varieties. CPM seeksexpert advice on an evolving problem.

By Lucy de la Pasture

crops. Yellow rust within plant tissue can survive very low temperatures so once infected the fungus will usually survive thecoldest of UK winters. Only if thewheat leaves are killed by frost willthe yellow rust fungus within theplant tissues die.

In the spring, particularly in coolmoist weather, the fungus starts to grow and produces activesporulating lesions. Temperaturesof 10-15°C and a relative humidityof 100% are optimal for spore germination, penetration and production of new, wind-dispersedspores. The fungus is inhibited bytemperatures over 20°C so hightemperatures in the summer canstop an epidemic. The completecycle from infection to the production of new spores can takeas little as 10 days during ideal

conditions. The disease cycle maytherefore be repeated many timesin one season.

How has the diseasedeveloped? During late summer, the darkteliospores may be produced.These can germinate to produceyet another spore type, thebasidiospore which can infect wildBerberis species –– which acts asthe alternate host (as with blackstem rust). This sexual stage doesn’t happen in the UK –– but itdoes in some parts of the world ––parts of China and the Himalayaswhere wild Berberis and wheatgrow side by side. It is thought that the new Warrior population that came into Europe in 2011 originated from the Himalayanregion.

The main challenge for

growers is that the yellow rust

population is stillchanging.”

“

Yellow Rust


The recent epidemics, since2011, have been dominated bythese new Warrior races –– originally thought to be a singlenew ‘alien’ race from outsideEurope, we now know that this is apopulation of new races that havenow almost completely replaced

the old European races. Theseraces are dominating Europeanyellow rust populations.

How does this affect varieties?The introduction of several newraces from outside Europe has

“There’s no doubt that the threat fromthe yellow rust pathogen is one of themajor challenges that we face asbreeders today as it’s becoming anincreasingly complex pathogen,”says Ed Flatman, Limagrain’s seniorwheat breeder.

“It’s vital to maintain a diverserange of resistance combinations toavoid mass breakdown of varieties.Our main varieties, such as Crusoe,Evolution, Revelation, LG Sundanceand LG Motown, all have differentgene combinations which is whythey’ve managed to withstand thechallenges from yellow rust betterthan many other varieties.

“Resistant varieties now generallyrely on combinations of three or more genes aiming to give long term resistance. These can be combinations of a major gene, givingcomplete resistance, plus minor genesoffering partial resistance. We’re also developing multiple resistantcombinations by inter-crossing inexcess of a dozen well characterisedgenes,” he says.

“In this way, if the major gene is broken down or overcome, thenthere’s a degree of built-in securityfrom the minor genes to avoid a complete breakdown of the resistance.This means that the need to stackresistances is more important thanever but this approach is only possible, with any degree of certainty,through the use of genetic markers,”he explains.

Paul Fenwick, pathologist withLimagrain, believes the threat fromyellow rust is one of the most significant threats to plant health andproduction today. The appearance ofthe exotic Warrior races represents astep-change in the challenge from thedisease, he says, adding that it’salmost like a ‘new’ disease.

“The huge diversity of races withinthe current yellow rust populationmeans that new virulences will appearfrom the ‘soup’ of pathotypes to

match resistance factors in currentvarieties.”

He points out that the Warriorraces of today are extremely diversewhen compared with the geneticdiversity of past European races,and currently the Warrior 4 race predominates and is the most diverse group of all.

“Warrior has the potential to overcome long established resistancefactors and this has already beenseen recently with the rapid demise of particular varieties to these new races.”

“While AHDB yellow rust resistanceratings are a guide to the likely levelof resistance of a variety through thesummer months, Warrior 4 pathotypesare found throughout the growingseason and significant disease levelshave been found during the winterand spring, which you wouldn’t normally expect. What’s more, it can’tbe assumed that the adult plantresistance seen in previous seasonswill develop with time.”

The adult resistance of some varieties only becomes apparent at around stem extension or earemergence but it’s important torecognise that each variety is different–– some varieties can become moresusceptible with time, he says.

“The fast-changing biology of the

disease can mean that resistance ratings are quickly out of date and no longer accurately reflect the ability of certain varieties to resist the disease, and this has been seenmore than ever in the latest AHDBRecommended List ratings, wherethere’ve been some big changes invarietal ratings from last season tothis one.”

Both breeder and pathologistagree that the recent threats fromyellow rust will need to be met withan integrated approach of new anddiverse resistance genetics and carefully considered approachesregarding fungicide applications.Their message for growers this season is that crops will need constant monitoring.

In the spring, particularly in cool moistweather, the fungus starts to grow andproduces active sporulating lesions.

caused some rapid changes in the degree of resistance shown by current varieties, so has been challenging for breeders and some varieties have suffered a spectacular breakdown in resistance.

The UKCPVS, managed byNIAB and funded by AHDBCereals and Oilseeds and Defra,receives infected cereal leaf samples from agronomists, trialsofficers and researchers. Fromthese samples, pathogen isolatesare selected and tested to checktheir virulence against wheat andbarley varieties. The testing candetect new races of cerealpathogens capable of causing disease on previously resistantcereal varieties.

Last year, UKCPVS revealedthat a group of yellow rust isolates,

Breeding for consistency

sampled in 2015, appeared to besimilar to the old UK Solstice race.Further testing showed these isolates had a distinct pattern of virulence on a wider set of varieties and were genetically unrelated to the old race, indicating a new race is present

Tech Talks

The majority of current varieties are susceptible to yellow rust at an early stageof growth.

Ed Flatman explains resistant varietiesgenerally rely on combinations ofthree or more genes.

Paul Fenwick warns it can’t beassumed that the adult plantresistance seen in previous seasonswill develop with time.


Beating yellowrust: top tips

–– provisionally named Invicta. The UKCPVS also confirmed thepresence of the Kranich race inthe UK yellow rust population. It’spossible that Kranich, Invicta, oreven an as-yet undetected race,could have been behind the unexpected levels of yellow rustseen in 2016.

How does chemistryhelp? Luckily, we have many fungicidegroups that are active against yellow rust and there are no signsof resistance issues in the yellowrust population. Several groups of fungicides are very active: thetriazoles, SDHIs and strobilurinfungicides are all very effective. In most situations, a normal fungicide programme of triazolesand SDHIs would effectively control yellow rust.

Adexar is the market-leading SDHI.Independent trials have consistentlyconfirmed that Adexar is thestrongest SDHI for controlling bothSeptoria and yellow rust, as well as offering moderate control ofeyespot in wheat. Given the flexibility to apply at either T1 orT2, Adexar will deliver the highestreturn of any fungicide in aSeptoria and yellow rust risk situation. With Adexar you have thewidest effective spray window ifyou do not hit optimal T-timings,delivering more consistent yields

Sponsor message

l Monitor crops regularly and treat early – Getting on top of yellow rust early in the epidemic is key.

l Don’t rely too much on RL ratings in the early spring – many resistant varieties are susceptible in the early stages of growth. Also, populations are still changing so you can’t be sure which races are present in your crop.

l There are still lots of choices of fungicides for rust control – many of the older triazoles are still very effective.

under sub-optimal conditions, aswell as greater on-farm flexibility.Adexar has been proven to improvenitrogen utilisation, water use efficiency and deeper rooting.For use in both wheat and barley,including malting barley. At T0,Comet 200 offers a very effectiverust killer, working with your varietalresistance to give you additionalprotection.

In recent years, we’ve had mildwinters which has led to some crops showing active yellow rustpre-Christmas and 2016 was noexception. In a few of these cases it can be necessary to treat specifically for yellow rust, but inmost situations, it can wait until the spring when a straight triazoleis sufficient to control the early epidemic.

What happened in 2016? The weather patterns in 2016 were probably best described as ‘atypical’. There were severeyellow rust epidemics throughoutthe UK, with outbreaks on varieties that had previously beenregarded as resistant. This waspartly related to the new races ofyellow rust that had previouslyentered the UK back in 2011.Since then the different Warriorraces have been competing withone another for dominance, withmultiple races present on thesame leaf becoming more common.

Because changes in yellow rustpopulations usually occur relativelyslowly, wheat yellow rust ratingsare normally calculated from athree-year dataset. As 2016assessment data showed high andunexpected levels of yellow rustfor several varieties, the datasethas been limited to a single yearfor disease rating calculations inthe 2017/18 RL. Because of theincreasing complexity of UK yellowrust pathogen populations, basingthe yellow rust disease ratingssolely on 2016 data is consideredthe best way to reflect varietal performance in the field for 2017.

What’s the best approachthis spring?There were reports of yellow rust in crops pre-Christmas 2016 and these will require careful monitoring through the wintermonths. The majority of currentvarieties are susceptible to yellowrust at this early stage of growth ––so it’s not unusual to see rust earlyin the growth of many crops.

Normally no specific action willbe needed before the spring ––except perhaps in some very susceptible varieties (e.g. KWSKielder, Reflection, Solstice). Thesecould require early intervention inthe spring long before the T0 or T1spray timings.

Triazoles are very effectiveagainst yellow rust and half labeldoses are normally sufficient.Tebuconazole is a frequent choice

for this very early treatment. By theT1 timing, a mixture of triazolesplus SDHI is likely to be used andthe SDHIs are also very effectiveagainst yellow rust.

What challenges dogrowers face? The main challenge for growers is that the yellow rust population is still changing and so can beunpredictable when it comes tovarietal resistance. The yellow rust population is dynamic –– with several Warrior races and perhaps other races jostling fordominance in the UK. It’s a case of ‘anything can happen’, so monitoring yellow rust populationshas never been more important so new threats can be identifiedbefore they become dominant incommercial crops. n

Kranich, Invicta or an as-yet undetected race, could have been behind theunexpected levels of yellow rust seen in 2016.

Bill Clark says it’s a case of ‘anything can happen’, so monitoring yellow rustpopulations has never been more important.

Tech Talk


s

There arelessons to be learned

from last year.”“

TechnicalTechnical news

With the option of Hamlet or Atlantis WG to controlblackgrass this spring,which should growers plump for? CPM asks Bayerthe question and gets anupdate from BASF on field performance of their new PGR last season.

By Rob Jones

Last season, blackgrass surprised with its capacity to recover and tiller after a reasonably successful residual programme.

“During our trials of Hamlet (mesosul-furon+ iodosulfuron+ diflufenican), we sawadded benefits and an increased level ofblackgrass control during the autumn andwinter months, when it’s intended to beused,” explains Bayer DevelopmentManager, Dr Gordon Anderson-Taylor.

“As a rule, it provided 10% more controlthan Atlantis (mesosulfuron+ iodosulfuron),even when trialled on quite stubborn EMRblackgrass. The best control from Hamlet isfrom applications before the weed tillers, soit’s best to get on as early as possible.”

Where this hasn’t been possible over the last few months, then be ready to useAtlantis WG once spring gets underway. The formulation of Hamlet –– which includesdiflufenican –– means there is less benefitapplying in the spring once active growthstarts, he advises.

Hamlet’s more powerful formulationmeans it needs to be applied before thecrop ‘wakes up’ in spring to avoid riskingcrop effects. The exact date will vary year-to-year but Bayer advises growers a good rule of thumb is to avoid use ofHamlet at the full rate of 1.5 l/ha after theend of Feb. Once crops begin springgrowth, Atlantis WG offers the best balancebetween control of blackgrass while managing the risk of phytotoxicity.

“There are lessons to be learned from lastyear when the pre-ems did their job well,”continues Gordon Anderson-Taylor. “Good early blackgrass control resulted in some neglecting their post–ems and the consequences were clear to see in June when blackgrass came back with a vengeance.”

Both Hamlet and Atlantis provide goodadditional control of blackgrass and ryegrass. What’s more, they have a decent

Last season saw the introduction of a new PGRproduct from BASF, Medax Max (prohexadione+trinexapac-ethyl). Dudley Kitching, BASF agronomymanager for Scotland explains that the prohexadioneis active as soon as the PGR is applied but thetrinexapac acts more slowly, increasing the durationof growth regulation.

“Flexibility in timing and activity at low temperatures allows the rooting system and viabletillers to be enhanced by early application. Use during stem extension shortens and strengthens the straw reducing lodging and easing harvest,”he says.

“The production of ethylene, the stress hormone,is also inhibited and so later applications tend not to result in the secondary tillering often seen withalternative products.”

Scottish grower, Dennis Bridgeford, produces

cereals for use in his 500-sow pig enterprise,where he finishes 12,000 pigs annually.Keeping crops from going flat is crucial to satisfy the pig unit’s requirements for feed and bedding, he explains.

“We inject the slurry into the fields at a rateof 33m3/ha. With so much pig slurry applied to the crops we use a quality plant growth regulator to give the robust lodging control we require.

“Last year we used Medax Max for the first time and even though July was very wet,we didn’t have any lodging at all. I also noticed that the crops ripened very evenly which is an important consideration for us given this can often be a problem due to the nature of the muck and slurry applications,”he says.

Pig slurry tests new PGR

There’s no additional benefit to using Hamlet inspring, says Gordon Anderson-Taylor.

range of activity against other grasses and several broadleaf weeds, so a timelyapplication in the next month will be worthwhile on many farms.

“Both Hamlet and Atlantis need to land ona dry leaf and stay there to be taken in by the plant. Using biopower as an adjuvantincreases the staying power of the herbicideand helps enhance uptake by the leaves of the target. Using a fine-medium spray with a flat fan nozzle works best, whilespraying at a speed of no more than 12km/h to avoid drift.”

Relive the ‘wow’ effect –– InnovationInsight on page 16 explores the discoveryand the stewardship of Atlantis. n


Hamlet or Atlantis this spring?

The remarkablepower of the‘wow’ effect


Can you remember the first time you witnessed the power of Atlantis (mesosulfuron+ iodosulfuron)? Chancesare, you’d never seen such an effectiveblackgrass herbicide. And there’s a goodchance you never will again.

“We called it the ‘wow’ effect,” recallsBayer’s Dr Klaus Kötting, who from the mid-1990s was project leader on theMesomaxx project that brought Atlantis to market.

“You’d take a colleague, researcher ordistributor to a plot that had been treatedwith mesosulfuron and that’s what they’d say.No one had ever seen such performancebefore.”

It’s a sentiment echoed by Dr StephenMoss, recently retired from Rothamsted

Research. “The level of control really wasremarkable. It looked like obliteration ofblackgrass and while this was certainlyimpressive, it was almost too good –– itcould lead you to believe you’d solved your blackgrass problem.”

And this was something of which BayerUK development manager GordonAnderson-Taylor was only too aware. “The trials guys loved it because there werehardly any blackgrass heads they had tocount in the treated plots. For us, it wasn’t a question of selling this product –– it solditself. The bigger job was stewardship.”

But the ‘wow’ effect of mesosulfuron wasless than half the story. Dr Lothar Willmsbecame group leader responsible for herbicides at Hoechst, that was to eventuallybecome Bayer, in the 1980s. “The potentproperties of sulfonylurea (SU) chemistryhad been known for some time. We developed some new compounds, such as amidosulfuron (included in Chekker),” he recalls.

Making it safe“We also developed a number of very effective graminicides, but the difficulty withdeveloping a grassweed herbicide for cerealcrops is making it safe, so that it selects outthe weeds and leaves the crop unharmed.”

At the time, the active under investigationwas the ACCase herbicide fenoxaprop. “Itwas a remarkably effectively graminicide,but also damaged the host cereal crop. So we set about developing a safener.”

This is a chemical that’s formulated withthe active ingredient –– a sort of catalyst thathelps a plant break down a herbicide so that the product is harmless, but it’s onlyactivated in the host crop, not in weedspecies. “The concept wasn’t new –– thereare safeners that had been developed forpre-emergence herbicides. But it had neverbeen done before in post-emergence cerealgraminicides,” notes Lothar Willms.

“A screening programme was started. It was huge –– we must have looked at over120,000 different molecules. A lot of peoplesaid it could never be done, that it would beimpossible, but we persisted.”

Then, one day in 1989, the scientists got the breakthrough they were looking for. “We came across this one compound –– mefenpyr-diethyl. It was the perfect safener for fenoxaprop and reduced crop damage from 80-90% to 0%. It was a remarkable discovery.”

The resulting product was sold as Pumaand Cheetah, for example, and remains oneof the most successful cereal graminicidesof all time. But the development team then

TechnicalInnovation Insight

Atlantis is the UK’s most widely used in-cropherbicide of recent years,but good stewardship has

always determined its performance. CPM tells the

story of one of weedscience’s most significant

discoveries.

By Tom Allen-Stevens

Right from the word ‘go’, we

knew we had a winner – this was the rat’s

pyjamas.”

“

s


day I saw the results of the first field trials –– it was 1994 in a plot where the untreatedcontrol had over 1000 blackgrass plants/m2,but the Mesomaxx controlled every one perfectly and the wheat was unscathed.”

Significant resourceAt the time, it wasn’t actually mesosulfuronthe herbicide team had pinned its hopes on,however. “We were bringing on a sister compound and channelling significantresource into its development,” notes Klaus Kötting.

But mesosulfuron was no accidental discovery, he points out. “It was engineeredby a group of chemists looking specificallyat how to manipulate molecules that wouldbe taken up by blackgrass and then persistin order to develop their full efficacy.” (see diagram on p19).

So in Nov 1996, the project teamswitched its focus to mesosulfuron, and thenlooked at combining this with iodosulfuron.“This active was launched in 1998 –– a leading brand was Hussar, with good efficacy on dicot weeds. It also had an effect on some grasses so we tried it in combination with mesosulfuron and thesafener, and there was a synergy –– it was asecond ‘wow’ effect,” notes Klaus Kötting.

In effect, the project team had made notone important discovery, but three –– thepowerful potency of mesosulfuron, the

synergy iodosulfuron brought in and theremarkable reliability of the safener technology. But that in itself created a huge regulatory challenge, recalls AchimZöllkau, who joined the team as the dossierwas submitted for approval in 2000.

“There had already been considerableinvestment in this herbicide, and the parentcompany had passed through restructuringchanges, from Hoechst, to AventisCropScience to Bayer. And we had hugechallenges ahead of us, with environmentalfate investigations for an SU herbicide thatwas to be used both in autumn and spring,for example. To get this through its finalstages we needed researchers who had the ‘Columbus gene’, because this wasunknown territory, and we needed evenmore investment.

Chris Tolley recalls the excitement about Atlantis a year before it was launched. “People were taking about it well before its introduction. Backthen, everyone would’ve read about it in the farming press and expected that this new product would be big help –– and it was.”

The younger half of a father and son teamfarming 320ha at Woodlands Farm, Shepshed inLeics, and with a BASIS diploma in agronomy, helooks after the agronomy for the whole farm whichgrows winter wheat, barley, oats, oilseed rape andspring barley on sandy clay loam to clay soils.There’s a fairly typical weed spectrum thatincludes blackgrass, so Chris Tolley and his fatherboth remember the difference Atlantis made.

“Before, we relied on clodinafop, trifluralin andisoproturon to control blackgrass –– these wereworking but were losing efficacy,” he says.“Atlantis came at the right time and was an obvious step-up.

“When it was first introduced it gave nearly100% control even against fairly big plants inspring. I think many of us saw it as a ‘silver bullet’because you could use it alone or in a mixture

and do a good job in autumn or spring.”Atlantis was so effective at the start that few

anticipated the capacity of blackgrass to evolve tothe challenge of mesosulfuron, he reckons. “Theway we talked then was like Atlantis was going tocontinue to provide good control forever, therewasn’t really any consideration of the resistancerisks because everyone was so pleased with theproduct. I can’t remember resistance being top of conversation among farmers at the time.”

But with the benefit of hindsight, this was amistake, he says and he believes that were a new product to come out now, things would bedifferent. “I think farmers’ attitudes have changedsufficiently that people would continue doing thecultural techniques to maintain control, even witha new silver bullet.”

Grain prices were low in the early years ofAtlantis, he adds –– in the £60-£80/t range –– so it was seen as a way to cut costs for wheat bysaving on pre-emergence herbicides and costlycultivations. What’s more, wheat could be sownearly to maximise yield without the worry thatblackgrass would take over.

Managing the ‘silver bullet’

Nonetheless, Chris Tolley continued with cultural techniques when Atlantis was first introduced and is still getting decent control.“We do as much as possible before reaching for the can –– we’ve always used rotationalploughing and Atlantis didn’t change that.”In addition to ploughing, blackgrass mapping, handrogueing and spray plans tailored to specific fieldsections are used to keep weeds at bay.

Like many growers, Chris Tolley saw Atlantis as a‘silver bullet’ because you could use it alone or ina mixture and do a good job in autumn or spring.

No one had ever seen the level of in-crop controloffered by Atlantis before, even in highpopulations of resistant blackgrass.

An eagerly anticipated herbicide when it waslaunched, the focus for the UK marketing teamwasn’t so much promotion as stewardship.

Innovation Insight

turned its attention to the SUs. “Manythought this safener was tailor-made just for ACCase products. But we set up ascreening model with some very strong SUmaterial using mefenpyr-diethyl,” continuesLothar Willms.

“The results were astonishing and we verysoon realised we had the breakthrough weneeded –– a safener that worked with SUchemistry.” It was combined first withiodosulfuron –– an active noted for its efficacy on dicot weeds, that also offeredgrassweed control.

“It was an interesting start, so we took in more compounds. Then in 1993, wedetected mesosulfuron. I’ll never forget the

s

Atlantis was applied to over 824,000ha, or 40% of the UK wheat area.

This popularity presented a further challenge, however, recognised even beforeAtlantis came to market. “How could we safeguard the power of this product? By its nature, the technology is vulnerable to resistance,” notes Achim Zöllkau.

Unknown territoryOnce again, the project team was steeringinto unknown territory. “We had to managethe stewardship of Atlantis. There was theinternal perception as well as to how growerswould perceive it. Historically, there had beena certain amount of denial mode within theagchem industry we needed to confront.”

Previously, some people within the industryhad been reluctant to talk openly about weedresistance for fear this would affect productsales. But Bayer took a longer-term view with Atlantis, he points out, realising the commercial potential, as well as the benefitfor the industry as a whole, would be greaterif careful stewardship extended the life of the product.

But there was still the grower perception to address. “There was this expectation that,just as a product began to lose its efficacy,manufacturers would magic up another. Weneeded to overcome this simplistic view,because we knew it would be way more thanthe standard five years before this chemistrywould be superseded.”

In the UK, that responsibility fell to GordonAnderson-Taylor as well as to Nick Duncan,who was project manager for 04H, as Atlantiswas known before its launch. “Right from the word ‘go’, we knew we had a winner–– this was the rat’s pyjamas,” remarks Nick Duncan. “It was dynamite stuff in ourown demonstration plots, as well as those

conducted by independents.“But right from the start we talked about

resistance. We were very open and honestabout it –– chemistry with that efficacy allowsgrowers to take the easy path and thatwould result in blackgrass developing resistance to Atlantis very quickly. At the time of its introduction, however, the wholeindustry had got its head round stewardship.We didn’t magic up best practice guidelinesas these had already been established byWRAG (Weed Resistance Action Group). We used the strength and power of Atlantisand channelled considerable resource into promoting the guidelines and helpinggrowers adopt them.”

No one was better positioned to addressthese issues with growers than Dr StephenMoss. “Bayer handled Atlantis a lot betterthan some other herbicides had been in thepast –– there was no industry denial,” henotes. “Work we’d done with flupyrsulfuronshowed resistance would develop, andexperience worldwide suggested this coulddo so quickly.

“But this was quite a new situation –– a strong ALS inhibitor with very impressiveactivity. We weren’t sure whether enhancedmetabolism or target site resistance wouldbe the biggest threat, and in a way we were both right and wrong with our early projections.”

He’d witnessed Atlantis’ efficacy thatlooked like 100% control. “But it can’t havereally been 100%, otherwise resistancecould not have evolved. Just one plant thatescapes control has the potential to build aresistant population by roughly ten timeseach year. You won’t see it for several years,but suddenly you realise you have a resistance problem.”

So resistance was virtually inevitable in aweed like blackgrass, he argues. The skill forthe grower is to adopt practices that reducereliance on the chemistry to slow down thetimeline. “Weed resistance isn’t a product

The marvel of mesosulfuron

Mesosulfuron was engineered as a molecule thatwould perform robustly in blackgrass to developits full efficacy, notes Klaus Kötting.

The research team screened over 120,000different molecules before they found what theywere looking for, recalls Lothar Willms.


Innovation Insight

“But the discovery team stuck togetherlike glue, and what carried the productthrough was the ‘wow’ effect –– it gaveeveryone the confidence to invest, commitand persist. Because we knew this had thepotential to change the herbicide market.”

Atlantis was launched in France in 2002. It was a major product launch but needed little publicity. “Growers had already heardabout it or seen it in trials and were reallyexcited about it. There was a rumour thatGerman farmers even crossed the border to get their hands on the chemistry a yearearly, although this was never confirmed.”

It was launched in the UK in 2003 andquickly became the most widely used in-crop herbicide –– it’s been applied to nearlyseven million ha of UK wheat since then. At its peak in the 2007/08 growing season,

Sulfonylurea molecules contain a bridge (in red) with a sulphur atom at one end and a nitrogen atom at the other.Enzymes in the weed are known toattack the bridge that hold its ringstructure – the key component ofpotency for SUs.

Scientists worked to engineer a molecule with avery resilient bridge to protect it from enzymeactivity to a greater extent than other SUs. Thisthey say, not only contributed to its robust performance, but in hindsight it meant mesosulfuron was less vulnerable toresistance than other sulfonylureas.

Heterocyclic group

s

was available as Othello, which offeredimproved activity on annual meadowgrass.New last autumn was Hamlet, giving growers an extra 5-10% step-up in control of blackgrass over straight Atlantis, notesGordon Anderson-Taylor.

“The big challenge was to formulate DFFwith mesosulfuron and iodosulfuron. DFF is a very useful active that depends on its partner. Get the formulation right and youhave a product that is more than the sum ofits parts, and that’s why Hamlet works –– it’sour expertise and considerable experience

of ignorance –– most farmers have an impressive understanding of the practicesneeded to minimise its development, butputting those into practice is difficult.

Irresistible“Atlantis was the easiest way for farmers tocontrol blackgrass in the short term, whichmade its use too irresistible. How effective itis now in individual situations depends on afarmer’s ability to turn their understanding ofresistance into on-farm practice.”

Atlantis was the first herbicide to includedetailed resistance-management guidelineson the product label, points out GordonAnderson-Taylor. These include: l Always follow WRAG guidelinesl Use Atlantis in mixture or in sequence

with non-ALS herbicidesl Apply as early as possible, ideally

before GS31l Don’t rely on Atlantis as the sole means

of control in successive cropsl Use different, non-ALS modes of action

throughout the rotationl Monitor and investigate patches of poor

weed control.Evidence suggests growers have always

used robust rates and partnered the productwith the adjuvant Biopower –– measures that improve efficacy and help against resistance, he says. But other practices have been resisted.

“We’ve always struggled to get growers to put Atlantis on early enough. It’s understandable, because you might notwant to spend on the product until there’sevidence of a problem. But bigger weedsare much harder to control, and more likelyto resist the application.”

Autumn is therefore the best timing, and

approval was sought for this during productregistration specifically for the UK market, he notes. “Over the years, no more than40% has been applied before Christmas,and it’s currently more like 20-25%. Buttoday’s later drilling means a Feb applicationis often suitable for many wheat crops, provided blackgrass is still pre-tillering.”

The product has been through severaliterations over the years –– an oil-dispersibleformulation is available (Hatra, Horus), forexample, and diflufenican (DFF) has alsobeen formulated with Atlantis. Initially, this

Hamlet delivers 5-10% extra control over Atlantis of even resistant blackgrass, but overall efficacy dropsoff the later you apply it.

100

90

80

70

60

50

40

8% 5%

10%

Atlantis WG(0.4 Kg)

Hamlet (1.5 L) Atlantis WG(0.4 Kg)

Hamlet (1.5 L) Atlantis WG(0.4 Kg)

Hamlet (1.5 L)

Applied GS11 Applied GS13 Applied GS23%

Bla

ckg

rass

co

ntro

l (p

lant

co

unt)

Blackgrass (mean of 3 weed screens 2015/16)

1009080706050403020100

Atlantis WG (0.4 Kg)

% C

ont

rol

IRG (resistant - Essex) IRG (sensitive) Barren brome Rye brome2

Rye-grass Bromes*

Hamlet (1.5 L

Other grasses in Chishill weed screen 2015/16:

*Note: No label claim for controlof bromes with Hamlet

100

95

90

85

80

75

70

65

60% B

lack

gra

ss c

ont

rol (

pla

nt c

oun

t)

Hamlet (1.5 L)applied GS11



Increasing herbicide resistance (EMR)

Increasing growth stage

Achim Zöllkau needed researchers with the‘Columbus gene’ and even more investment toget Atlantis to market.

Innovation Insight


s

CPM would like to thank Bayer for kindly sponsoring this article, and for providing privileged access to staff and material used to help put the article together.

Just one plant that escapes control has thepotential to build a resistant population by roughlyten times each year, notes Stephen Moss.

Innovation Insight

emerging coleoptile and tackles a broaderrange of weeds than pendimethalin.

“It was the ideal partner for isoproturon,used early post-em,” recalls GordonAnderson-Taylor, who was development manager for DFF in its early days. “Not a lotcan touch it on broadleaf weeds, and it doeshave useful activity on grassweeds. That’swhy it goes so well with flufenacet inLiberator.”

DFF’s value in the early slot positionsHamlet as a product best applied in autumnor very early spring. Numerous trials havedelivered 5-15% extra control over Atlantis, he says, with 5-10% a realistic expectation.“This holds for resistant blackgrass, even atGS23, but overall control drops off the lateryou apply it.”

Further product developments will bereleased from 2017-20, including a formulation specially designed for springapplication. These will ensure improved control of blackgrass, he assures, but there’llbe no ‘wow’ effect.

“The very fact that Atlantis is still amarket leader and the most effective post-emergence product after 14 years isway beyond the expectations we had at itslaunch, and testament to the power of theherbicide,” says Gordon Anderson-Taylor.

with DFF that’s proven successful.”Launched by Rhone Poulenc in the 1980s,

DFF has always been a product noted for its broadleaf-weed activity. It’s naturally a pre-emergence or early post-emergenceproduct, that acts on the developing or

Launch literature focused on encouraging anti-resistance strategies.

Innovation Insight

“But what’s also impressive is the attitude ofgrowers –– there’s a good understanding nowof resistance and adoption of responsiblestrategies that rely less on the chemistry.That’s a healthy environment to have, shouldthere be any new product developments.”

Stephen Moss feels waiting for that next big herbicide could be like waiting for ‘jamtomorrow’, however. “You could be in for along wait, and would you see that ‘wow’ effectagain? Even if you did, it probably wouldn’tlast, so the main message is to adopt a blackgrass control strategy in which chemistryplays an important, but smaller part.” n

Refining nutrition is high on theagenda of many progressivefarm businesses. CPM visitstwo very different farmingenterprises to find out howthey’re achieving this, startingwith a mixed dairy and arableunit in Cheshire.

By Rob Jones

The boom-mount irrigator reel system shouldgive a lot more opportunities for applying organicmatter when the crop is growing.

Understanding the precise contribution of livestock organic matter and how bestto balance it with subsequent fertiliserapplications is pointing to a new way oflooking at nutrient management on a largeCheshire mixed farm.

Trials being carried by Grosvenor Farmsand CF Fertilisers are not only showing how to estimate soil nitrogen content moreaccurately, they are also adding over atonne to cereal yields and increasing efficiency of nitrogen utilisation considerably.

With waste products from a 1600-cowdairy herd, nearly 1500ha of combinablecrops and target yields in the top quartile of production, managing fertiliser inputs isone of the most important aspects of thebusiness, says arable farm manager Charlie Steer.

“Developing our environmental strategy is one of the main drivers in the businessnow and we’re constantly reviewing ourmanagement to include this. We’re verycomfortable with the concept of ‘sustainableintensification’ and have been focused onproducing more food from less land, waterand energy for many years.”

One of the most recent results of thisapproach has been a wholesale review of cropping policy, he explains.

“It’s not ideal arable land –– being mainlygrade 3 heavy Cheshire clay, with a relativelysmall area of sandy clay loam. So, we’vebeen looking at expanding the rotation and


Fertilising for profit

Our current production costs are

£80/t for wheat, £78/t forbarley and £205/t for

oilseed rape.”

“

Technical Nutritions

N-Min Winter Barley Trials 2016 at Grosvenor Farms

Source: CF Fertilisers

SMN(kgN/ha)

ANN(kgN/ha)

SNS(kgN/ha)

N rateApplied(kgN/ha)

Yield(£/ha)

N Costs(£/ha)

Margin(£/ha)

Advantage(kgN/ha)

- - - 190 7.88 123.5 664.5 -

113

FarmPractice

N-MinApproach 68 204 95 9.6 61.75 960 233.75


Charlie Steer explains a urea sulphur blend isused on Grosvenor Farms’ OSR because ofevidence of paler flowers in the past.

Pale yellow OSR flowers (left) are a sign ofsulphur deficiency.

Grosvenor Estates have made savings in fertilisercosts of £61.75/ha using CF’s N-Calculator tool.

making sure the right crops are on theright land types.

“For example, we’ve pushed maize awayfrom the heavier ground and flood meadowsand moved it on to the higher, lighter land. Atthe same time, we’re coming out of ELS andgetting more involved with the higher-tierCountryside Stewardship scheme.

“We have 72ha of land in arable reversion, 70ha in strips and this year we’regoing into an agreement for 40ha of floodmeadow restoration, including species-richgrassland.”

But all the focus on the environment must be balanced with the requirements of a commercial farming enterprise, hepoints out.

“One of our main objectives is to keep ourcosts down as much as we can. This meansproducing a crop of wheat for under £400/hawhen it comes to fixed costs, but we alsouse actual cost of production as a key metric too.

“Our current production costs –– includingfixed and variable costs –– are £80/t forwheat, £78/t for barley and £205/t for oilseed rape.”

Key to achieving such low figures is making optimum use of inputs and makingsure every pound spent delivers maximumreturn, he says.

“Optimising resource efficiency –– both technical and financial –– is essentialand we’re committed to using the best scientific practice and ethical know-howavailable to help achieve this.”

Nowhere is this more the case than inmaking full use of the 15,500t of separatedsolids and 57,000m3 of dirty water produced by the farm’s dairy unit each year, Charlie Steer points out.

“We previously used an umbilical systemwith a dribble bar but this was limited by theheight of the crop. As soon as we reachedstem extension, the crop was at risk of beingdamaged by the equipment therefore wewere limited to using slurry out of the lagoonin the autumn.

Boom-mount irrigator“We’ve just invested in a boom-mount irrigator reel system with engine drive so we can apply low volumes down thetramlines at 48m. This should give a lot moreopportunities for applying organic matterwhen the crop is actually growing.”

The target in wheat is to get a first application of 50kgN/ha from the dirty water and then supplement this with 34.5%Nitram (ammonium nitrate) in subsequentapplications.

“Our second application would be80kgN/ha, with as much of this as possiblecoming from the organic matter which would be topped up with Nitram whereappropriate. The final application of another80kgN/ha would be solely from the Nitram.We’d be aiming for a maximum of around220kgN/ha for our feed varieties and up to300kgN/ha for our milling wheat.”

Of the 524ha of wheat grown, around125ha is Skyfall for milling this year with previous crops producing 9.2t/ha at 14.8% protein.

“We want to get as much dirty water as possible on the milling wheat withoutcompromising the NVZ limit and this shouldbe a lot easier with the new system,” he adds.

According to CF Fertilisers’ agronomistAllison Grundy, the key to getting accuratefertiliser application when working with such high volumes of organic input, is to

understand not only what’s in the actualmaterial being applied but also how itbehaves in the soil.

“No testing is 100% fool proof and thesematerials are notoriously variable, which iswhy Grosvenor Farms test the organics theyapply at least twice a week when they arespreading. But it’s not always possible withthese applications to say exactly what will beavailable to plants at different stages ofgrowth, no matter how careful the testing ofthe material is.”

Recent trials with CF Fertilisers have putthe emphasis on assessing soil nitrogensupply during the growing season usingtheir N-Min analysis service rather than justtesting materials applied, she explains.

“Most soils analyses involve an assessment of nitrogen in the soil at the timeof the test and this is known as soil mineralnitrogen or SMN, but this is only half of theequation. Soil nitrogen that will becomeavailable to the plant between spring andharvest, Additional Available Nitrogen orAAN, is equally important.

“The easiest way to think about it is thatSMN tells you nitrogen available in the soil atthe point of the test and AAN then adds inwhat is likely to be mineralised and availableto the crop during the run up to harvest. Alltests other than N-Min miss this essentialelement out.”

But the importance of this more sophisticated testing is unequivocal, shesays, with trials at Grosvenor Farms usingthe approach, resulting in average margingains of £113/ha in winter barley and£186/ha in OSR.

Nutrition

s

In one winter barley trial theCF N-Min gave an SMN of113kgN/ha with an AAN of68kgN/ha. With an estimate of22.5kgN/ha of nitrogen in thecrop, this gave a total SoilNitrogen Supply (SNS) of204kg/ha.

Using the CF Nitrogen calculator tool, the resulting N-Calc recommendation was foran additional 95kgN/ha to beapplied, as opposed to thefarm’s standard practice of190kgN/ha. The resulting savingin fertiliser costs of £61.75/ha,combined with an extra 1.7t/hayield gain, gave a £233.75/haincrease in margin from£664.50/ha to £898.25/ha.

In OSR, a similar trial carriedout the previous year showed a 0.4t/ha yield gain with a£53.25/ha saving in fertilisercosts giving a margin increase of £168.75/ha.

When it comes to other nutrients, P and K are not anissue because of the largeamounts contained in the organicmaterials applied, but sulphur is something that should be monitored when using large quantities of this material, Allison Grundy says.

“Milling wheat requires sulphurto produce the right level of protein, so with a larger proportion of these types ofwheat being used in the rotationthere’s a possibility for sulphursupplies to be insufficient.

“Regardless of the system,sulphur availability shouldalways be checked, especiallyin OSR as it’s particularly susceptible to low levels.”

A urea sulphur blend wasused on Grosvenor Farms’ OSRbecause of evidence of palerflowers in the past, but followingsigns of striping and unevenapplication with this type of product, a granular DoubleTop(27N+30SO3) will be used exclusively this year.

“Our aim is to get the slurry onand drill our OSR early,” CharlieSteer explains. “If we can do this,we can supply about 90kgN/hafrom the organic input and then top this up with DoubleTop

later in the spring.“The spring applications are

very much determined by GAIinitially, but we’d always aim toget around 70-80kg/ha of sulphuron. Our target is to apply an optimum of 220kgN/ha in OSR.”

Charlie Steer admits that theneed for a precise balancebetween environment, commercial farming and efficient nutrient use is puttingeverybody involved in the operation on a steep learningcurve. But he firmly believestechnology holds many of the answers.

“Getting the most out ourorganic manure is a main business objective for us, andwith plans to expand the dairyenterprise, learning how to use itfully will be essential in the future.The new application systemallows us to use this much moreefficiently throughout the growingseason and we should seereduced leaching, better nutrientutilisation and improved cost savings as a result.

“The next step is to understand more fully howorganic manure behaves in thesoil, what we are really gettingfrom it and how we can use thisinformation to shape our wholefertiliser strategy and this iswhere the N-Min approach isreally coming into its own.” n• Look out for the second farm-based article, carried exclusively on the CPM website.To see the article in full for free, and to sign up to the monthly CPM eshot, go towww.cpm-magazine.co.uk.

Allison Grundy advocates using N-Min analysis in addition to testingthe organic materials applied.


You’ve got to create conditions that give crops the

best chance.”“

TechnicalOSR agronomy

Yields of OSR often fail to liveup to their potential. CPM

asks Hutchinsons’ Dick Nealehow to avoid disappointment

and finds out his top nutritional tips.

By Paul Spackman

A fresh approachto OSR nutrition

Some growers may benefit from rethinking their approach to oilseed rapeagronomy by taking a more balancedapproach to applications of key inputs thisspring, believes Hutchinsons’ technicalmanager, Dick Neale.

He warns that not enough attention is always given to the interrelationshipsbetween all aspects of macro and micronutrition, soil quality and fungicideinputs, which is putting crops at risk of missing their true potential.

All too often the focus is on specific areasof agronomy in isolation, particularly springnitrogen, which is likely to be false economyif other aspects of crop and soil health arelacking, he points out.

“We’re increasingly seeing OSR yields of 5-6t/ha and if that’s something you’re regularly achieving you’ve got to create conditions that give crops the best chanceof fulfilling it.

Kept in balance“Fundamentally this means getting soils into the right condition in terms of structure,pH, organic matter and fertility, which is along-term process. But we can use nutritionto manipulate OSR quite strongly, providingeverything is kept in balance.”

Spring nitrogen, for example, typicallyproduces some of the most significant cropresponses. But higher nitrogen rates mustbe accompanied by additional sulphur, as this is essential for efficient nitrogen utilisation, says Dick Neale.

Likewise, crops with high yield potentialmay also require more other macro/micronutrients and trace elements to growproperly. They’ll also likely require morerobust fungicide applications to preventearly season canopy being lost to disease.

OSR typically requires around 650t of soilwater for every tonne of rapeseed produced,so water-use efficiency is key, he adds.

“If you don’t have sufficient disease control or the correct balance of nutrition,

plants won’t operate as efficiently so usemore water and work harder putting ongrowth and sending roots deeper. This losesyield potential in the process.”

The basic rule for optimising yield is toaim for a Green Area Index (GAI) of 3.5 bymid-flowering and growers should resist thetemptation to grow big, lush crops. Theymay look good going into spring but areactually less efficient at building final yield,he advises.

“Crops need to be thin enough to let light penetrate the canopy and reach thelower leaves, which are far more efficient at building yield than the stems or pods. So don’t worry if your crop looks a bit thinnerthan neighbouring crops by the end ofMarch, it’s often these that will yield betterthan thick, lush ones.”

In Dick Neale’s view, accurate timing of all nutrient applications is key to achievingthis target GAI. Nitrogen usually gives thegreatest yield response, but only if it isapplied correctly in balance with other nutrients and if conditions are conducive for quick plant uptake, i.e. active growth.

Crops typically require 50kgN/ha to createone GAI unit, so this should form the basisfor calculating spring applications. However,surface nitrogen applications are around

s

Applying more of any nutrient when signs ofdeficiency are seen is too late as plants will havealready lost yield, says Dick Neale.

Oilseed rape has a massive potassium demand,so crops must have sufficient root structure

Many growers could be applying boron too earlyin the season.

OSR agronomy

Light leaf spot (LLS) is an increasing problem in OSR and growers should prepare to treatcrops early this spring, advises Adama technical specialist Kuldip Mudhar.

Two spray timings are critical to LLS control;one in late autumn and the other as soon asthe crop starts to ‘wake up’ in early spring,with a follow-up spray at green/yellow budwhich will also help canopy management,he explains.

Prothioconazole and tebuconazole are themain actives offering good LLS control, sogrowers should use products based on these,Kuldip Mudhar advises.

Depending on crop development, he suggests there may be scope to combine LLScontrol with canopy management by selectinga fungicide with growth regulatory activity, suchas Orius P (prochloraz+ tebuconazole).

But it’s not a case where there can be acompromise between disease control andcanopy management. Early disease detectionand control is more effective than treatingheavily diseased crops at stem extension,

A separate spray for LLS and PGR may benecessary to get the timing right.

so there may be a case for separate spraysdepending on crop growth and disease pressure.

The key timing for growth regulation is from the onset of stem extension, when theinternodal distance is between 20cm and30cm. “Beyond 30cm is too late to get the best PGR effect,” he advises.

Two-sprays key to LLS control

60% efficient and increase rates accordingly, within RB209 guidelines, toensure enough nitrogen is taken up by the plant.

“Don’t take a blanket approach to nitrogen. Manage every crop individually,according to its canopy size.”

He also points out there’s strong evidenceshowing the value of late liquid nitrogen.

“Applying all nitrogen early, in the hopethe plant will use it later, doesn’t work. All that happens is the plant uses it early toproduce a large canopy which interceptslight less efficiently. We’ve seen good plantuptake and yield responses from late nitrogen.”

For growers without the infrastructure

to handle and apply liquid urea, other non-scorching, slow-release nitrogen products are available to mix with floweringsprays. Efficient 28 or Nitamin for example,are typically applied at 20 l/ha andHutchinsons has found yield responses of0.5t/ha, regardless of how much baselinenitrogen was applied, he explains.

Efficient uptakeSulphur is essential for efficient nitrogenuptake and OSR is particularly sensitive to sulphur deficiency, characterised by yellowing or mottling of young leavescaused by plants not being able to utilisenitrogen properly. Slight deficiencies produce pale flowers.

Extra sulphur should always be includedwhen considering higher rates of nitrogen,advises Dick Neale.

“Simply applying more of any nutrientwhen signs of deficiency are seen is too late.Plants will have already lost yield trying torecover and you won’t get that back.”

Many soils contain good phosphorousreserves, although only a proportion will beavailable for crop uptake.

Phosphorous is very chemically reactiveand can easily become locked up in the soil,especially where there are high levels ofbackground aluminium, iron and calcium,making it difficult to maintain available nutrient levels, he says.

Adding fresh phosphorous can be beneficial, although it must be applied when there is active growth and adequatemoisture to ensure it is taken up by plantsand not locked away in the soil.

“Don’t just apply phosphorous in theautumn and hope that will do. It has todirectly feed the growing plant. DAP is frequently used when establishing winterOSR with great success, but this can cause


s

Lush crops may look good going into spring butare actually less efficient.

Magnesium, often applied alongsidemicronutrients, is a macronutrient so shouldn’t be forgotten.

OSR agronomy

localised and temporary increases in pHwhich may further impact micronutrient availability.”

OSR has a massive potassium demand,he notes, so crops must have sufficient rootstructure and moisture to access reserveswithin the soil profile.

“If the root system isn’t good enough, it won’t be able to meet the plant’s requirement. So be aware of other factorswhich may be influencing rooting, such assoil structure or other aspects of nutrition.”

Extra potassium may be necessary wheresoil indices are below the recommendedIndex 2, however Dick Neale believes thatas with phosphorous, a spring application isfar more beneficial than the autumn becauseit’s more likely to be quickly taken up by thegrowing plant.

Stem strengthZinc deficiencies in OSR are an increasingissue and while there may be little directyield response from additional zinc, it doesplay a key role in other aspects of crophealth, notably stem strength, he says.

“If OSR lodges you will lose yield, so thereis a benefit from avoiding zinc deficiency.”

Boron has a greater role in flowering andpod set than it does in early season growthand Dick Neale believes many growerscould be applying it too early in the season.

“A lot of growers apply boron in theautumn, but I often question the value of thisand believe early spring or green/yellow budtiming is more effective as this is when thecrop needs it most.

“Be cautious with boron though, it’s a difficult product to tank-mix and should only be used in very small quantities to avoid having any toxic effect on the crop,”he adds.

Manganese is the main micronutrient toconsider, while growers on black fenlandshould also be wary of potential copper deficiencies. Magnesium, while oftenapplied alongside micronutrition, is in fact a secondary macronutrient so deficiencymust be avoided, advises Dick Neale. n


Its real strength lies in havingdiverse representatives of the industry around the table and working

together.”

“New thinking a step forward

Behind the scenes, there’s been nothingshort of a revolution in thinking when it comes to how best to tackle the problems facing agriculture. While thereis no disputing the prowess of the UK’sscientific organisations, historically theyhave worked in a degree of isolation andthe transfer of science into the frontlineof applied agriculture has been a majorsticking point.

“In 2013, the Government came up witha vision to help agriculture tackle theseissues, which became known as the agricultural technologies (agri-tech) strategy,” explains Richard Laverick, chief technical officer at AHDB.

World leaderThe agri-tech vision in a nutshell states the desire for the UK to become a world leader in agricultural technology,innovation and sustainability; exploitopportunities to develop and adopt newand existing technologies, products andservices to increase productivity; and contribute to global food security andinternational development.

The aim was to create capacity in theUK to translate agricultural innovation intocommercial opportunities for UK businessesbut also to create four new centres thatwould stimulate inward investment and help to revolutionise farming practices in the future.

The centres proposed in the policypaper were Agrimetrics (big data), Agri-EPI (Agricultural EngineeringPrecision Innovation Centre), CIEL (Centrefor Innovation Excellence in Livestock)

and the recently re-named CACS (Centrefor Applied Crop Science), which was previously known as CHAP (Centre forCrop Health and Protection). The namechange was implemented to better reflect the broad remit of the centre, and particularly its aim to bring researchand applied agriculture closer together, he explains.

“The idea behind the centres was tobring together expertise from across theindustry and for the centres to worktogether, generating a powerful knowledgeresource. Because the centres are essentially start-up SME’s, they’re not yet in the position to demonstrate thevalue of that synergy.”

Even so, the breathing of life into whatwas initially just a concept has alreadychanged the way industry works together,he believes.

“To develop the vision something thathas never happened before was achieved.For the first time the UK government, scientific organisations and the food andfarming industry all came together as aconsortium to identify and develop theopportunities and strengths of the agri-tech sector and address key

There’s been a comingtogether of some of the

most dynamic minds andbusinesses in our industry to form a consortium that

could revolutionise the wayresearch is carried out in the UK. CPM explores the

new Centre for Applied Crop Science.

By Lucy de la Pasture.

To get the best value for levy payers, CACS has to bid for projects in competition with otherproviders, notes Jon Knight.

Theory to Field

problems facing the industry.“The four centres give access to a

scientific base across all platforms, forexample CACS has access to more than500 specialists from within the consortiummembers. When you begin to comprehendthis breadth of expertise and depth ofunderstanding that has been broughttogether, then it brings home quite whatthis consortium could deliver. No otherresearch provider can offer a resource like this.”

Significant investmentThe Government has made a very significant investment in getting the agri-tech strategy off the ground, providingfinance for world-class laboratory equipment, IT hardware and software,along with facilities to test and developnew agricultural technology and products.The investment reflects the importance ofthe fast-growing agri-tech sector to theeconomy.

In 2016, a government report estimatedthat agri-tech directly accounts for£14.3bn in value added to the economyand 542,000 jobs in the UK. To put thisinto context, core agriculture productionaccounts for £9.7bn in value added andaround 474,000 jobs. The next largestsub-sectors are engineering and precisionfarming (a substantial element of which iswholesale activity related to agriculturalmachinery, equipment and supplies) animals, with each contributing just over £1bn in value added and almost21,000 jobs.

No longer a concept, the first of fourspecialist agri-tech centres, Agrimetrics,

s

took its first breath in 2015, swiftly followedby the other three centres which came to life during the last year. So, what will the establishment of CACS in particularme

Documents

In this issue - cpm magazine · 2017. 2. 3. · Volume 19 Number 2 February 2017 *the claim ‘best read specialist arable journal’ is based on independent reader research, conducted