Fungicide: Letting the Data Talk
With all the threats that crops face each growing season, playing defense with fungicide can be key in protecting plants from potential disease issues. Not only does fungicide improve plant health by protecting against disease, but our ProVantage data also shows a consistent yield increase from year to year.
In 2020, the majority of the ProVantage corn acres were treated with Quilt XL/Aquila XL, which has up to 30 days of residual. However, in 2020 we started testing new fungicides with longer residuals: Trivapro and Veltyma. Trivapro’s residual is up to 40 days while Veltyma’s residual is up to 60 days. In addition to the extended protection of the longer residuals, these new products can potentially control a wider spectrum of diseases and combat the resistance issues from our current products. We plan to test Trivapro and Veltyma again this coming growing season and are hopeful for the potential transition to these products in the future.
Aerial application in corn, often considered a “home run” application, showed a positive 14 bushel/acre response in 2020, which also lines up with our past seven years of data. Although a challenging year for corn-on-corn, fungicide applications still resulted in a three bushel/acre yield gain. We suspect the lower response can be attributed to the hot, drought-like conditions that shut plants down before they could finish the year properly; the state of the plants was beyond what fungicide could help. Despite 2020’s corn-on-corn results, in “normal” or “average” growing conditions, ProVantage data supports fungicide application on continuous corn acres.
In addition to aerial application at tassel in corn, you can also apply fungicide in-furrow during planting or post-emergence in knee-high corn. In-furrow application helps protect against seedling diseases at emergence and can improve plant stands. Fungicide application in knee-high corn can give plants a jump start on defending against pressing diseases. If you have disease-heavy acres, these applications can keep disease issues in check until it is time for the aerial application.
In recent years, there has been an increased interest with fungicide on soybeans. With a favorable nine bushel/acre response, fungicide application in soybeans certainly showed some promise in 2020. In addition to this past year’s positive results, our five-year data trend in ProVantage supports this as well. Our ProVantage fungicide-treated soybean acres were treated at R1-R3 and also included an insecticide, as insects can be just as yield-limiting as disease. Both fungicide and insecticide product costs have come down quite a bit over the last few years, making the application cost much more economical. This paired with the increasing bean prices could provide an opportunity for growers to capture more dollars with their 2021 soybeans.
Each growing season certainly comes with its own uncertainties. Applying fungicide is one way to proactively defend against the uncertainties of disease pressure while also improving overall plant performance.