Late Drilled Second Wheats Profit From Take-All Treatment
21/09/06

Second wheats drilled as late as December can still profit from a specialist take-all seed treatment, according to recent East Riding Crop Consultancy trials.

Indeed, 2005 season trials conducted by AICC consultants, Brian and Andrew Beeney at Coniston in East Yorkshire showed an average 1.02 t/ha yield response from treatment with Latitude (silthiofam) across selected second wheat varieties sown in the first wheat of December (Table).

Einstein and Gladiator showed the most impressive Latitude treated yields – at
8.63 t/ha and 8.28 t/ha respectively – each producing well over a tonne/ha more than with a standard single purpose seed dressing alone, despite the lateness of drilling.

On average, responses to the specialist take-all treatment were well over twice those to the more general fluquinconazole dressing.

ERCC Late-Drilled Second Wheat Trial Yields (Coniston)

“Our results clearly show that, contrary to popular wisdom, take-all can seriously affect even very late-drilled second wheats,” Brian Beeney stresses. “Early infections from the fungus very much depend on soil temperatures. So the increasingly mild autumns and early winters we seem to be getting these days could well be playing into its hands; especially so in seasons like 2004/5 when so many crops had to be muddled in under far less than ideal conditions.

“The problem – as we saw so clearly ourselves – is that you just don’t know how the season will turn out. We were intending to get our 2005 harvest trials sown in early October as normal, but after a late harvest and poor early autumn conditions they didn’t actually go in until two months later. “Under these circumstances, relying on a specialist take-all treatment for second wheats as routine regardless of sowing date seems entirely wise. Even with wheat at last season’s £60/t, it delivered an average £34/ha margin over treatment costs across the three most popular second wheat varieties.

“With far better drilling conditions and very much lower take-all levels this past season, our 2006 trials showed noticeably lower responses to seed treatment,” he observes. “However, Latitude still delivered a positive cost:benefit, underlining the second wheat insurance value of a decent take-all treatment.”

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