Reduce the risk of mycotoxins
Interagro are advising growers to use the penetrant adjuvant Arma with their T3 fungicides to enhance their performance against ear diseases and minimise the risk of mycotoxin production.
Three years independent work carried out by the University of Kiel in Germany (the leading centre into Fusarium and mycotoxin research) has shown that the addition of the adjuvant Arma to half or full rate metconazole, prothioconazole or a prothioconazole and spiroxamine coformulation lead to improved levels of disease control, increased yields and reduced levels of mycotoxin in the grain,” explains Alan East, Technical Manager for Interagro UK Ltd.
“New EU legislation setting maximum mycotoxin levels in grain for human consumption comes into effect on the 1st of July this year. Growers will now have to monitor ear disease levels closely in order to minimise the risk of mycotoxins in grain, particularly the deoxynivalenol (DON) mycotoxin, which has an EU maximum level of 1.25 mg/kg. This together with the difficulties of timely spraying this season means that the T3 spray will be an even more important part of the spray programme and must work to best effect,” says Alan.
“When added to 1.5 l/ha of metconazole, Arma improved the level of disease control by 10% up to 83% and when added to half-rate prothioconazole it lifted the level of control by an extra 17% to 67%. For the triazole/strob coformulation, the overall level of control was higher overall but the addition of Arma to this fungicide applied at half-rate lifted the result by 7% to 82%. The effects on yields were also startling. The addition of Arma to 0.75 l/ha of metconazole lifted yields by an extra 0.6 t/ha and when added to half-rate prothioconazole by an extra 0.5 t/ha.”
Focusing on mycotoxin levels in the grain specifically, the trials at Kiel University showed that
by using Arma with the T3 treatments the level of DON was reduced by up to 53%.
“In these trials a treatment of 1.5 l/ha of metconazole alone resulted in a DON level of over 2 mg/kg, which is above the EU maximum level. By adding Arma the level of this mycotoxin was reduced to 0.6 mg/kg, a reduction of 66% and one that is well below the threshold for rejection,” says Alan.
“These independent trials show that significant improvements in control, yield and mycotoxin levels were achieved by a number of fungicide/adjuvant combinations. Arma is an adjuvant that enhances both triazole and strobilurin fungicides so is ideal to use at the T3 timing. With the fear that grain may not comply with the new EU levels, the use of Arma is highly advisable this season, paying for itself many times over. If weather turns out to be wet at harvest or there is maize in the rotation or you are growing an open flowering variety with poor resistance to Fusarium, it will be well worth protecting the ear from disease and from the risk of mycotoxin production,” reminds Alan.
