Elatus Era fungicide is a new offering from Syngenta Canada, which claims it delivers “superior protection” against anthracnose, white mould and Ascochyta blight. Both can signifiancly reduce yields and increase harvest time for lentil growers, the company said in a news release.

Syngenta is also promoting the fungicide as having a “first flower to row closure” application window.

Carolyn Wilson, technical lead for fungicides with Syngenta Canada, said Elatus Era outyielded competitor results in grower field trials by 3.7 bu/ac.

She also pointed out a clean, green canopy among its attributes. The company credits Solatenol — one of two active ingredients in the product — for this quality.

Solatenol is a Group 7 active with a track record for controlling anthracnose (including Group 11 resistant biotypes) and Ascochyta in lentils. It’s said to increase the light and energy capture needed for a productive crop, at the same time protecting the canopy from disease.

Elantus Era also contains prothioconazole, which is a Group 3 active Syngenta noted for its “strong, reliable” white mould protection.

The post New Syngenta fungicide targets anthracnose, white mould, Ascochyta blight appeared first on Country Guide.

Disease management has greatly improved in the past 10 to 15 years. One reason is the enhanced genetics, along with efforts to screen out seed lines showing susceptibility to specific diseases. Another is learning how to use newer fungicides — growers have certainly “upped their game” with help from agronomists and advisors. Finally, there’s a better understanding of the physiology of diseases and the relationship between pathogen, host and environment, and how if one “corner” of that triangle is missing, there can be no infection.

Yet white mould is that constantly nagging issue for many growers in eastern Ontario and into Quebec, almost to the point where it’s a greater concern than SCN or SDS. According to data from the Crop Protection Network (cropprotectionnetwork.org), 2021 saw an estimated 1.21-million-bushel loss due to white mould in Ontario, making it the third-highest yield-robber behind SCN and SDS.

Sheila Murphy says affected growers have learned to rely on best management practices to reduce infection and protect their yields.

“The fungus Sclerotinia sclerotiorum is endemic to Eastern Canada and overwinters here, so the inoculum is present,” says Murphy, Corteva Agriscience seed product agronomist for Eastern Canada. “We know in eastern Ontario and western Quebec there’s a continued concern about white mould, whereas in southwestern Ontario, it’s not as concerning, and I think that’s largely attributed to the climate.”

Historically, crop advisors in parts of southern Ontario have encountered pockets of white mould, often in dairy operations. The addition of manure provides the moister environment to help white mould flourish. But the disease’s impact is much less in that region compared to SCN, SDS and a few others that can pop up from time to time.

The focus on white mould comes with the launch of Pioneer’s A-Series Enlist E3 soybeans, with 21 varieties available in a range of maturities for Eastern Canada. The A-Series offers a suite of enhanced traits that are expected to help with resistance to SCN, SDS, Phytophthora root rot and white mould.

Murphy says the Enlist E3 and A-Series bring together the strong agronomics of the A-Series, “Plus there’s the Enlist E3 tolerance which allows growers to use the E3 program with stronger products.”

Likes it cooler

For eastern Ontario, the environment is arguably the key. Although there are more dairy operations, it’s the tendency for air temperatures below 28 C that seems to be the key. According to resources from the Ontario Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs (OMAFRA), “White mould prefers temperatures below 28 C, moist soils and high humidity.”

For Darren McColm, that reflects conditions in eastern Ontario.

“There are instances of white mould in almost every county in Ontario,” says McColm, agronomy lead (east) for WinField United Canada. “However, parts of eastern Ontario see those moderate temperatures increasing the potential for the disease. White mould instances can vary from farm to farm depending on rotation, cultural practices and even soil types.”

Like Murphy, McColm believes agronomic practices can make a bigger difference, including wider rows, longer rotations and paying attention to high-fertility field conditions. Higher fertility increases vegetative growth that traps moisture in the canopy and provides an optimal environment for white mould. He also stresses row width and plant populations as key agronomic factors to combat the disease.

“You can also plant a variety with high tolerance,” says McColm. “No variety is a silver bullet but if you have bad white mould in the past, you can mitigate risk with a variety that’s rated for high tolerance.”

Murphy also cites the “silver bullet” reference, adding there is no complete resistance factor for the disease, meaning there’s no “easy button” other than best management practices. As much as breeders can work to impart characteristics that battle stresses, there is only one real metric that interests growers: yield.

“With any crop that we’re breeding, we have to balance all of those desired traits, whether it be yield, disease resistance or drought tolerance,” says Murphy. “Mother Nature throws everything at us, but for our growers, white mould is a concern, and it’s a very large part of what we do in the breeding programs — continuing to breed for yield, SCN and SDS resistance. But white mould is something we’re actively engaged in bringing tolerant varieties to the marketplace.”

The right tools

In the absence of any “total package” soybean variety, growers must manage using agronomic practices but they also have a good selection of fungicides. McColm mentions products from Groups 3, 7 and 11, yet notes growers aren’t using them as “insurance” or an annual measure. He also hasn’t seen any growers opt out of needed fungicide applications as a cost-cutting measure in the wake of higher fertilizer or fuel costs: when crops need a fungicide, growers protect that investment.

“There are tank mixes and some multi-mode-of-action products that are premixed that work great,” says McColm. “Fungicides are a tool that can be used, although very few use them as ‘automatic.’ Some growers will plan to use a fungicide application if environmental conditions favour that application and they have had issues in the past.”

Ultimately, growers have to pay stricter attention to avoid white mould. Environmental conditions and varietal selection are important. McColm says a variety with high tolerance doesn’t guarantee the disease won’t be a problem. Growers must be mindful of environmental conditions, and use a fungicide if conditions are favourable.

The post Managing white mould in soybeans appeared first on Country Guide.

“SDS (sudden death syndrome) is expected to worsen in southwestern Ontario soybeans and root rot could be a serious concern this year if the conditions at planting time are wet,” notes Dr. Owen Wally, research scientist in field crop pathology at Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada in Harrow, Ontario. “White mould may be a threat later in the growing season if the weather is cooler and wet later on, but current fungicides are effective with this disease.”

Bayer’s eastern market development representative Bryan Bryson agrees that SDS and white mould are the main soybean diseases of concern this year in Ontario and Quebec, and adds that there may also be some SCN (soybean cyst nematode) issues. “Bayer does genetic screening for SDS and white mould in Eastern Canada to understand our soybean varieties’ response to these diseases,” he explains. “Starting with genetics that are adapted to the disease challenges facing a grower is the base of an effective disease-management strategy. Growers should be careful to pick the correct genetics and use multiple varieties.”

Bryson adds that in the case of SDS, seed treatments offer complementary protection to the “base” genetic resistance of the best-chosen varieties.

White mould management

For white mould management, proper genetics are also the first step, but obviously growers need to use appropriate planting density, row spacing and fungicide applications. Using previous years’ experience along with scouting notes is also a must in identifying fields where disease pathogens are present and to what extent. Overall, Bryson advises growers that “working with local seed dealers, government extension workers and Bayer staff will help growers to select the right genetics, seed treatments, planting agronomics as well as manage fungicide application decisions to create tailored solutions.”

In terms of DON presence in Ontario and Quebec this year, you can consult the Ontario Provincial corn ear mould and mycotoxin survey, completed by the Ontario Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs (OMAFRA) in collaboration with Grain Farmers of Ontario and members of the Ontario Agri-Business Association. In October 2019, Ben Rosser and Albert Tenuta, OMAFRA corn specialist and field crop pathologist, respectively, reported that 96 per cent of samples in the survey tested “low” (under 2.00 parts per million) for DON, considerably lower than the results of 2018. However, the surveys each year do not include every field in the province, and Rosser and Tenuta also note that timely harvest is important. Leaving diseased grain in the field allows the ear rot fungi to keep growing, which will increase the risk of mouldy grain and mycotoxin contamination since most ear rot fungi continue to grow (and potentially produce mycotoxins) until the grain has less than 15 per cent moisture.” In Quebec, some of the 2019 corn harvest was completed in January 2020.

The “disease triangle”

While every farm’s situation will be different every year for DON, Bryson reminds that pressure for it or indeed any disease is a function of the “disease triangle” of environment, host and pathogen.

“If growers have had a history of DON pressure in past years, they should be on the lookout for it in 2020. The reality of this triangle is that we can’t control two of three of these elements (environment and pathogen presence), but the ‘host’ is under our control. That is, the best germplasm is the starting point.” In 2019, Bayer started screening its corn genetics in Eastern Canada to understand differences in disease response.

Bayer’s row crop agronomic systems manager Adam Pfeffer adds that “In addition to choosing the best hybrids, using multiple hybrids to spread out the risk on your farm is also a good strategy from a genetic diversity and flowering date standpoint.” And as with soybeans, he says that depending on weather this spring, tailored DON control in corn includes scouting for disease development and having an effective fungicide strategy at the ready.

Fungicide timing

Pfeffer reminds growers that if they need to control white mould in soybeans, R1 would be the target for the first fungicide application. “For DON control in corn, silking is the key timing and in cereals, anthers present in the middle of the head is the staging to look for,” he explains. “As with any application, scouting for crop stage and disease presence as well as paying close attention to rainfall and forecasts are key elements to consider.”

Determining the level of disease pressure can be aided by the use of the latest technology. The FieldView platform, for example, allows growers to use satellite imagery to identify problem areas in their fields (spots with less biomass) that may otherwise go unnoticed. The FieldView app also shows growers where they are located in the field in real time, enabling growers to quickly move to problem areas and therefore making scouting as fast and efficient as possible. Any problem areas are effectively monitored over the season and also can be compared to what was present in past years.

“The Climate ‘Field Health Imagery’ in FieldView could definitely be used to help identify thick parts of the canopy in time enough to scout the field before growers run out of management options,” Pfeffer says. “Field-specific rainfall and temperature conditions for each field are recorded as well, and this is a big help to growers in determining what the level of disease pressure may be, and where, on their farms.”

This article was originally published in the 2020 Disease & Yield Management Guide, a Country Guide Special supplement sponsored by Bayer Crop Science.

The post Soybean and corn disease threats in Eastern Canada appeared first on Country Guide.

Forecasting diseases is iffy at best. The truth is that most disease pathogens, once they establish in Ontario or Eastern Canada, have the potential to affect crop production.

For 2020, the message on disease management is simply “be prepared.” Diseases require specific conditions in order to flourish and have an impact on production. “The Disease Triangle” dictates that if a pathogen lands on a host plant under the right environmental conditions, a disease will flourish.

Remove one of those parameters, it cannot develop.

Disease dynamics aside, there is a concern that growers in Eastern Canada are paying too much attention to what’s on the horizon without keeping track of the near-and-present diseases that are here already. Tar spot in corn appeared on the radar in 2019, serving as a distraction from the problems with gibberella in 2018. But the fact is, tar spot is not in Ontario and even when — not if — it appears, chances are the initial infection will be sporadic and less severe.

“There is increased attention to some of the new problems like tar spot in corn but my concern is around those diseases that overwinter on crop residues,” says Drew Thompson, market development agronomist with Pride Seeds. “Although disease pressure was low for most of Ontario in 2019 in both corn and soybeans, at the tail end of the growing season, it became much easier to find infections.”

Thompson cites field conditions that challenged growers who used tillage as a means of controlling or burying pathogens at the end of 2019. As a result, those with either corn-on-corn or soybeans-on-soybeans could be more likely to see elevated disease pressure from either northern corn leaf blight or frogeye leaf spot in soybeans in 2020.

Nor are those the only two diseases worth noting, and Thompson maintains that the best approach is to be prepared for the unexpected and look for diseases that are entrenched and pose the greatest challenge. Those include soybean cyst nematode (SCN), sudden death syndrome (SDS) and white mould in soybeans. On the corn side, northern corn leaf blight and gibberella (GER) are two consistent threats.

“Most diseases we face are ‘native,’ in that they’re diseases that have been around since the crops they infect were first grown,” says Thompson. “As such, they’re well-suited to our climate, which includes winter.”

On the alert

In dealing with the potential for infections, the best tool — beyond crop plans or pencilling fungicide costs — is to be prepared, as Thompson advises. But it’s not just a matter of a grower knowing they have SCN in a field, it’s understanding which diseases are more prevalent in a crop and how they have an impact on plant health and ultimately yield.

Soybean cyst nematode is especially troubling to Peter Johnson. It’s not just that SCN is one of the greatest disease threats to soybeans, it’s that it goes undetected in so many fields. He speaks of the 2015 survey of parts of midwestern Ontario, where higher-than-expected concentrations were found in Huron and Bruce counties, at levels that could only have developed over many years, not as a recent find.

“Everyone needs to be more aware of where SCN is and that it’s a wider-spread problem than a lot of growers think,” says Johnson, an independent agronomist. “There are more farmers who are growing more soybeans because they tend to be profitable and you’re not working with wet soil. But whether it’s corn-soybean-wheat-soybean or soybean-corn-soybean-wheat, it means 50 per cent soybeans, and too many growers grow too many soybeans. The more soybeans in the rotation, the more of an issue SCN is and the more of an issue SDS will become, and the poorer soil quality you’ll have.”

Of the so-called “Big Three,” soybeans are the hardest crop on the soil, adds Johnson. Their shallow roots do little to improve structure and they’re large users of phosphorus and potash, returning little to the soil. Yet in spite of soybeans’ rise in popularity, the lack of awareness of the diseases that are the biggest threat stands in stark contrast to wheat, which Johnson notes is every bit as challenging to manage as soybeans, from a disease perspective. Fusarium head blight is a constant threat in wheat production and has the potential to affect the crop in any year.

“Growers know that when you grow wheat, you manage for fusarium — it’s just accepted,” says Johnson, noting that gibberella ear rot in corn presents a different threat, since growers might see GER only one year in 10 or one in eight. “Some of the more sporadic diseases can lull you into a false sense of security. You should always be on the lookout for the other diseases.”

That’s why Johnson is adamant that growers need to be aware of which diseases matter to their crops, and pay attention to local alerts and media reports of their advance.

“Pay attention to Twitter, pay attention to whatever source — whether it’s your local co-op or retailer,” says Johnson, adding that he provides regular updates on his podcast. “Pay attention to a resource where you’re going to get that alert that tells you to get out to the field and look.”

Network in place

In terms of staying informed, Albert Tenuta notes researchers, extension personnel and agronomists are sharing information and that this has created a clearer picture of the diseases having an impact on crops in Ontario. He and his colleagues are communicating through the Crop Protection Network with the goal of anticipating how losses to various diseases are having an impact on production, including in Ontario.

“Whether it’s corn, soybeans or wheat, we have a network of colleagues throughout North America,” says Tenuta, field crops pathologist with the Ontario Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs (OMAFRA). “We communicate on a regular basis to discuss where we’re at, where we’re going to be and what the future may hold.”

He cites Goss’s wilt and tar spot as good examples of corn diseases that are well known and have been in the U.S. for years. Both are confirmed in Michigan yet neither has entered Ontario.

“We do a survey every year, specifically for diseases that are here, and the ones that are coming are important to track, but when they do arrive, the incidence and severity that first year will be minimal,” says Tenuta. He refers to the annual corn disease survey which includes tar spot, conducted with Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada (AAFC) and Grain Farmers of Canada (GFO) with CAP funding. In 2019, the disease was never found. “It takes time to build up and establish, but the moment tar spot appears, everyone in the province is going to know.”

It’s important for growers to monitor the diseases that are in their fields and those that can cause problems every year and to keep good records and plan for in-season responses. For instance, with SCN and SDS, it’s vital to know that resistant varieties are the best way of managing these diseases. In white mould, row-widths and planting dates can affect the potential for the disease to develop, where narrower rows lead to quicker canopy closure and the development of the right environment for mould to develop.

Do the math

For some, applying fungicides is seen as cheap insurance, but Thompson stresses more thought must be put into the decision. Under certain circumstances, margins can be tight, which can influence a grower to plant one crop versus another.

“When working on cost of production, pencil in a fungicide application and if you end up in the red, then you likely should look at another crop,” Thompson says. “We have forecasts and other predictive means to try to guess if a fungicide will be necessary, but there are years when despite all the signs saying a fungicide is needed, there is minimal disease pressure and minimal yield response.”

Against that outlook, Thompson says fungicide use in a crop like corn has to be judicious. He knows from his past work in research that cereals are the most responsive to fungicides and the most likely to show a positive return on investment.

“Research on fungicide applications in corn is starting to show promise, particularly when fungicide applications are made in combination with other management decisions,” says Thompson.

As examples, he cites higher plant populations and higher fertility programs in corn. In soybeans, some growers are starting to work with two-pass applications of fungicides.

“A single fungicide application may not elicit a positive return but when done in combination, the response can be impressive,” he says.

Still, fungicide use in corn or soybeans has to be justified.

More IPM?

Integrated Pest Management (IPM) is often held up as a silver bullet for managing diseases as well as insect pests and weeds. Yet Johnson and Tenuta state that in many ways, IPM is already at the heart of growers’ efforts to manage diseases, insects and weeds.

From Tenuta’s vantage point, the contention that field crop producers aren’t practising IPM couldn’t be further from the truth. Farmers are planting resistant varieties, they’re walking and scouting their fields, and they’re targeting fungicides appropriately.

They also look to stay on top of emerging developments.“We have the information network amongst the pathologists, consultants and OMAFRA personnel, so use the expertise of the people scouting and monitoring the situation, not just here but elsewhere,” says Tenuta. “Use that to guide you to get out there.”

For Johnson, the key to IPM is a three-word phrase he’s been uttering since the late 1980s.

“The absolute best way to employ integrated pest management is ‘rotation, rotation, rotation,’” he says. “The more crops we can get into rotation, the better. But a two-crop system, whether it’s corn-soybeans or soybeans-wheat, that is not a rotation, that is an alternation and with alternations, insects and diseases can adapt.”

A true rotation — with a minimum of three crops is the best integrated pest management strategy, according to Johnson. Add two years of hay and that will further disrupt diseases and pests.

Use of trait technologies, rotating modes of action and even intermittent tillage may be an answer. Often, the simplest strategies are the best.

The post Disease outlook for the 2020 crop season appeared first on Country Guide.

I wondered, what would it take to reproduce this potent material so we could inoculate plants throughout Ontario?

I quickly took a sample to the pest diagnostic clinic to get a positive identification and begin my plans of Canada fleabane eradication and cult hero status in Ontario.

A little context. Late last summer, my friend and colleague Pete Smith (University of Guelph) collected a bunch of Canada fleabane plants for me because I wanted to test out some newer herbicides to see what might be worth looking at in the field during the 2020 season. I got busy doing other things and Pete decided to put the plants in a vernalization chamber to slow their growth so that I could revisit them once I had more time.

The cool (5 C) and moist conditions of the vernalization chamber resulted in about 25 per cent of the plants having this white fluffy growth on the rosettes (Figure 1 at top).

Within days of being transported to the warmer growth rooms, the infected rosettes had completely died (Figure 2 below), and I was giddy.

The excitement quickly ended days later when the results came back from the pest diagnostic clinic. The pathogen was… Sclerotinia sclerotiorum, more commonly known as white mould and one of the more significant pest problems in soybeans.

I doubt soybean producers would appreciate a civil servant spreading white mould around the countryside, even if it was effective at killing Canada fleabane.

So, does the identification of white mould growing on Canada fleabane provide any value?

At the very least, it may explain one of the causes of overwintering mortality that many have observed with fall-established Canada fleabane rosettes. Often people have speculated that cold temperatures are the culprit for plant death over winter, but perhaps white mould is another contributing factor. More significantly, if Canada fleabane is a host for white mould, then effective control of this weed will be one of many important management practices to reduce white mould growth in soybean.

(For more information on disease and insect management, check out the Crop Protection Network. If looking for resources on white mould on this site, you will have to use the U.S. spelling of “mold.”)

Have a question you want answered? Hashtag #PestPatrol on Twitter to @cowbrough or email Mike at mike.cowbrough@ontario.ca.

The post Pest Patrol: White mould and Canada fleabane appeared first on Country Guide.

What about white mould? It’s one of the diseases that can have a huge impact on a field of soybeans, and once it has done its damage, a grower seldom if ever forgets the look of the disease and the losses that can result. The good news-bad news about white mould is that it still lags behind SCN as the largest yield robber in soybean production in Eastern Canada. Yet according to reports from the U.S., it is also on the rise.

White mould occurs during flowering at temperatures in the mid- to upper-20 C range. Its impacts can range from 10 to 20 per cent yield loss in a moderate infection or as high as 10 to 20 bushels per acre in severe infections. If temperatures are above 28 C, however, the apothecia (the small, mushroom-like structures that grow on the soil surface) involved in sclerotinia stem rot cannot produce spores. Even if conditions turn wetter at flowering, higher temperatures prevent spore production.

Up until late August of 2018, white mould had not been a huge issue across much of Ontario and Quebec, mostly as a result of hot and dry conditions through most of July and early August. Temp­eratures above 28 C and a lack of rainfall kept white mould at bay, even in parts of eastern Ontario where the disease has become an almost perennial threat.

But during the second week of August, many parts of the province — east and west — began recording higher rainfall amounts, leaving some to question whether the eastern half of the country would escape severe white mould infection. Horst Bohner, soybean specialist for the Ontario Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs (OMAFRA), concedes that with the heavier rains in mid-August, white mould became the topic of the day in many regions. He began getting more calls, particularly on how to manage it, and whether a second — and in some cases, a first — fungicide application is necessary so late in the season.

“There’s no question that white mould is much more prevalent in specific fields, and a large part of that has to do with crop rotation and disease history,” says Bohner. “But there are also regions that are hit more frequently and much harder with white mould and Eastern Ontario is one of those.”

More than one key

It’s a unique set of circumstances that exist to make Eastern Ontario the more prevalent location for white mould. The region tends to be a few degrees cooler than points in southern Ontario — sufficient to drop it into a more favourable temperature range for the development of the disease. Some years, Eastern Ontario will get more precipitation and in some locations, soil type also plays into the situation, particularly on soils with poor drainage. The history of their cropping practices can be another factor, particularly with peas a frequent addition to rotations of the past, since peas are also susceptible to white mould. During several decades, that might have led to a buildup of inoculum.

Put all of those factors together and white mould can be a continuous factor for growers in that part of the province. When Bohner tours through Eastern Ontario, talk invariably turns to white mould, regardless of any of the other topics he might be there to discuss.

For Albert Tenuta, the largest influences in the severity of white mould are moisture (relative humidity) and temperature. Calling it a “chronic, sporadic disease,” there are some years when it might only rank in the top five among soybean diseases; in severe years, it might jump to No. 2 or No. 3. Like Bohner, Tenuta reminds growers that a dry, hot summer tends to lessen white mould’s impact on soybean production.

“A season like this year where we had continuously 27, 28 or 30-plus degree temperatures (and higher) is not ideal for white mould infection,” says Tenuta, field crops pathologist for OMAFRA. “Overall, based on what we’ve seen in terms of environmental conditions (to the middle of August), the risk would be in a lower situation than a couple of years ago when it was cooler for most of the season and you had humidity and rainfall throughout.”

That said, 2018’s late-season precipitation patterns sparked hot spots in southern Ontario as well as the east. From Kincardine to Orangeville and through Shelburne, there was more consistent rainfall in early August, which may provide the optimum environment for white mould to flourish. It’s in that same strip that Tenuta is working with Dr. Dan Smith from the University of Wisconsin at Madison on a spore prediction model, based on the development of the disease’s apothecia.

The university’s Sporecaster app is available for download from the Apple Store or from Google Play. Keep in mind, the app only indicates whether conditions are right for the development of apothecia that produce the spores that cause white mould. It will not confirm whether the disease is going to develop or whether that field is at a higher risk, based on available data. It’s more targeting the development of apothecia and spores, and the risk for initial infection.

“The key with that is that it can help us with our fungicide timing,” says Tenuta. “That has always been one of the concerns around white mould… how to time a fungicide application to the best timing for a foliar fungicide application, and also which fields would be best suited for that application — which one is the highest risk.”

The 2018 growing season is the first year it’s been available, although it’s been under testing for the past two years.

Other factors involved in white mould’s infection include the history of the disease in a particular field. Echoing Bohner’s statements, Tenuta notes that a field with a long-standing incidence of white mould increases its susceptibility to infection. That can also have an impact in varietal selection, and Tenuta reminds growers there are no varieties that are resistant to white mould — although there are some that exhibit an innate tolerance to the disease.

Agronomics

Row spacing and plant populations are additional management considerations that Chris Olbach has noticed in various fields. As an area agronomist with Corteva Agriscience (the agriculture division of DowDuPont), Olbach’s experience with white mould has been something of a baptism-by-fire. Raised on the family farm in southern Ontario just outside of St. Marys, Olbach has learned more about the disease thanks to his new position covering Eastern Ontario.

“A lot of growers won’t grow a soybean if it doesn’t have a good white mould tolerance,” he says, referring to many farmers in that region. “We look for soybean varieties that have that as part of the package, more so than what I saw growing up in St. Marys, which is in the same maturity range.”

For the most part in 2018, Olbach hasn’t seen white mould to the same extent as years past, including fields where the soybean plants are chest-high. He’s been working with growers and other dealers, adjusting row spacing and plant populations, especially on some of the higher-yielding areas of certain fields.

“A lot of the growers have become accustomed to it and they’re actively out there trying to pick a variety that’s the best for white mould, and they’re trying to manage it,” says Olbach. “It gets back to the question of high-yielding soybeans, with a lot of growers who are trying to protect that yield — so they’re looking at 30-inch rows and lowering populations.”

Anything else?

As much as environmental conditions (moisture and temperature) and agronomics (row-width and populations) can lessen the impact and spread of white mould, Bohner notes that tillage plays a role in the severity of the disease too.

“No till has much less white mould than conventionally tilled soybeans — and that’s just a fact,” he says. “In side-by-sides some years, you can see it right down the line where it was tilled and not tilled.”

In terms of fungicide applications, Bohner is quick to point out that growers have more and better options when it comes to protecting their soybean fields. Farmers were powerless to do much against white mould 15 or 20 years ago, essentially surrendering to whatever level of infection arose and corresponding yield losses. Today, there are newer foliar fungicide products on the market that are better on the disease. There’s also a better understanding of when to spray, how to spray and maximize coverage, and the levels of suppression that are feasible.

In terms of using fungicides, a grower should be looking for higher humidity levels with cooler temperatures during that flowering period — and with a susceptible variety — then spraying is recommended.

“You should be making one fungicide application for sure, and twice if white mould is your primary concern,” says Bohner. “I’m a big fan of protecting as many flowers as possible, so if you’re spraying twice, put the first one on relatively early in the reproductive phase and then the second one on 10 days to two weeks later.”

This article was originally published in the October 2018 issue of the Soybean Guide.

The post White mould in soybeans hits back appeared first on Country Guide.

But acreage isn’t the only number that may be up. We’re also likely to see more fields with second-year and some with third-year soybeans.

Then, if the predictions hold true, we’ll also see more white mould (sclerotinia) and sudden death syndrome (SDS).

That’s bad news our diseases are on the move. White mould is usually ranked as the biggest yield robber in eastern Ontario and western Quebec, but last year saw it become a bigger issue even in the southwest. SDS was seen in more growing regions too, and in greater severity.

And soybean cyst nematodes (SCN) remained a considerable yield robber, not only across southern Ontario, but also farther east in the province as well.

Of course, Phytophthora root rot and Pythium damping off should never be ignored, wherever you are.

In other words, more regions are seeing more risks, and just about every farm needs to be on the alert in order to ward off a series of major threats.

Public and private agronomists are all looking at a tough 2015. Diseases were a problem last year, they say, but with an increase in soybean acres — along with more continuous soybeans — that trend is expected to continue, if not intensify.

“White mould, sudden death syndrome, soybean cyst nematode, the root rots and seedling diseases will be some of the biggest ones there,” says Albert Tenuta, field crops pathologist for the Ontario Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs. Tenuta adds that the threats are compounded by one of the key management tools to drive yield upwards — earlier planting into cool, wet soils.

White mould

Tenuta calls white mould “the most fickle disease” facing growers, but it’s also the most frustrating from an extension and research perspective. Inoculum is often present, but in order to thrive, the disease requires very specific environmental conditions, particularly for moisture and temperature. In 2014, there were some exhibitor plots at Canada’s Outdoor Farm Show with visible symptoms of the disease.

“In the years where we have cooler-than-normal and wet conditions, we see what can happen with white mould,” says Tenuta. He notes that many producers have all but forgotten how destructive white mould can be and how it can impact yield. “We have a lot more sclerotia left on the soil surface and in the upper two inches of the soil profile, and those are the most critical within a season for developing the spores,” Tenuta says. “They’re the ones that will cause you problems. Anything below two inches will remain buried and won’t germinate or develop into the apothecia and then the spores — they’ll just stay there.”

But surely, a grower might say, the conditions that made 2014 such a bad year for white mould aren’t likely to repeat in 2015. That’s true, but Tenuta points out that the inoculum load is that much greater, particularly in fields with beans on beans or beans on beans on beans, and this will increase the risk. And unfortunately, in no-till scenarios, those sclerotia are ready to spring into life within two inches of the soil surface.

So, would 2015 be the year for some light or moderate tillage to prevent those pathogens from developing?

Not necessarily, says Tenuta. Discing or cultivating the soil in the spring might just as easily bring any buried sclerotia back to the surface. And even if you end up with fewer sclerotia up where they can cause trouble, there may still be enough to create a serious risk.

The only way to really break the cycle is to maintain rotations — which is a challenge given the current pricing cycle.

“It goes back to all of these different diseases, and one of the most important things from an integrated pest management (IPM) standpoint is variety selection,” says Tenuta. “What growers do in the winter cannot be taken for granted. Planning is critical to a successful growing season — and variety selection is the most important.”

Understanding white mould pressure from field to field is paramount, because that’s how growers will be able to select the right variety for those fields. There’s no genetic resistance to white mould incorporated into current soybean germplasm or varietal lines, only tolerance to the disease. Tenuta is quick to point out that there are also pre- and in-season treatments that have not been available to growers in the past, including biologicals that can be applied pre-plant that colonize and disrupt the sclerotia, plus newer in-season treatments that are being developed.

“We can often get some degree of control or suppression of white mould but we can’t get rid of it,” says Tenuta, adding that knowing which fields are susceptible is the first line of defence. “It comes down to genetics and germplasm and variety selection. I can’t overemphasize the importance of variety selection for the specific needs for your specific fields.”

The frustrating part of white mould is that unlike some other diseases or insect infestations, it doesn’t have a visual threshold that can be used for scheduling a spray. Once the disease is visible in a field, that field is infected and it is beyond the point where it can be treated via a chemical application, which becomes little more than revenge spraying. What’s more frustrating is that many of the measures that promote higher yields, such as higher plant populations, higher fertility and narrow rows, can provide the right microclimate within the canopy for the disease to flourish.

“The key in 2014 was that optimal environmental conditions stayed much longer than normal,” says Tenuta. “In most years, we end up with hot, dry conditions by the middle of July and into August, and even though we have white mould starting, it doesn’t spread any further. In 2014 though, even with a preventive fungicide application (at R1 or R2) and even some later applications (around R4 or R5) the extended fall seemed to help the diesease. But Tenuta still says those early applications are something to consider, particularly if you have the higher-risk situations.

Sudden death syndrome

According to several sources, sudden death syndrome is another emerging challenge for growers, and 2014 was another year of marked increases in the disease, particularly in southwestern Ontario. For the coming year, SDS may see another jump in area or in intensity, given the rise in acres and the increased frequency of second- and third-year soybeans.

“Again, variety selection is important and soybean cyst nematode resistance is important,” reminds Tenuta, drawing a link between SDS and soybean cyst nematode, which he often referred to early in 2014 as well. “And unfortunately, with SDS, it’s often our best fields that are showing the disease. It’s the same thing with white mould; high-fertility, high-growth conditions promote white mould, and the same things happen with SDS. The good fields, the high-productive fields are often the first to show SDS and often see the most damage as well.”

Like white mould, SDS increases as growers continue to plant earlier into colder soils in an effort to push maturity on their soybeans.

It’s not that early planting is a bad idea, just that the risk of infection — and from more diseases — increases. With SDS, notes Tenuta, it’s cooler, wetter conditions, typically within the first two or three weeks of planting, that are very important to establishing the disease. It’s at that point the disease pathogen will colonize the roots and then wait until stress conditions occur or until later in the growing season when the typical SDS above-ground symptoms start to appear. Even in a good growing season, Tenuta says, the disease can cause damage and yield loss.

It’s all the more reason for growers to know their fields and to understand the disease species that are present. Only then, Tenuta says, can they respond with the right integrated pest management strategy, including variety selection.

“Seed treatments are also important,” adds Tenuta. “Fungicide seed treatments are a necessity for soybean development and for maximizing yields, and we must not underestimate their importance.”

Tenuta has been working with U.S. researchers in the north-central soybean research program to look at sudden death syndrome as well as seedling disease, and also with the Grain Farmers of Ontario through a Growing Forward 2-funded project. They’ve noticed that with sudden death syndrome in particular, yield losses can run as high as five to six bushels per acre. And that’s just with normal planting dates.

In testing a new active ingredient seed treatment, however, Tenuta says the joint Canada-U.S. research project has found it gives a yield boost of three to four bushels per acre, even where the crop was planted at the end of April under cool, wet conditions into soils with a high SDS.

“There are some good new tools coming down the pike that growers will be able to integrate into their management system, as well,” Tenuta says.

Soybean cyst nematode

A long-standing pest of soybean fields, particularly in southern Ontario, soybean cyst nematode (SCN) continues to be a perennial leader in the “yield-robbing” category. In spite of standard sources of resistance (i.e. PI 78877 and the Peking sources) incorporated into varieties, the troubling issue with this disease pest is that there are some new Heterodera glycines (HG) types and nematode populations that are putting pressure on existing resistance sources.

In 2014, there were some resistant varieties that were more susceptible to SCN than in the past.

The other concern with SCN is that it is not as environmentally dependent as other diseases. Tenuta says regardless of weather or climatic conditions, there will always be some level of SCN infection, with consequences for fields. If it’s a highly stressed year, then even at lower populations there will be more potential for damage. In some good years, there may be little or no above-ground symptoms, but that doesn’t mean the damage isn’t being done.

Phytophthora and Pythium

Of the prevalent diseases in soybeans these days, Phytophthora root rot and Pythium damping off are the most environmentally dependent. At the present time, Phytophthora resistance is fairly well entrenched, but Pythium is showing signs of developing a more diverse threat. Within the past decade, there were only one or two Pythium strains; now researchers are isolating nine or more from different varieties.

Even if resistance to Pythium is lacking in soybean germplasm, there are good seed treatments available, including Metalaxyl and Metalaxyl-M. Yet Tenuta says there are also signs of resistance to those active ingredients beginning to creep into fields.

“As our GFO-funded project has shown, we’re seeing all of these disease organisms get smarter and have the ability to adapt to our management practices,” Tenuta says, speaking specifically of Pythium but referring in general terms to all of the diseases mentioned above.

Take-away message

Again, Tenuta says he can’t overemphasize the need for preplanning and for farmers to know their fields. The work done in the middle of winter will pay its own rewards, he adds, especially if rotations are being sidetracked with back-to-back, or back-to-back-to-back soybeans. It is paramount to review field notes from previous years, to map out parts of fields where certain diseases may be a problem, and to diversify those varieties, perhaps planting five different varieties across five different fields rather than opting for a favourite or “workhorse” variety.

It’s also worth noting that these disease issues continue to develop and diversify, becoming part of the “normal” farming landscape. There is no single silver bullet solution, says Tenuta, and there is no single active ingredient that can be called upon to solve every issue, be it a disease, or a weed species or insect pest.

“We never had that (silver bullet) in the first place, but the seed is now being challenged by a more diverse pathogen  population,” says Tenuta. “We’re going to have to depend on different active ingredients to hit those little niches of what we’re missing. It’s going to become more complicated in the future.”

This article was originally published in the February 2015 Soybean Guide

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Still, it’s essential to look for lessons, and if the 2014 growing season has taught farmers, retailers and extension personnel anything, it’s that planting conditions and cool summer weather can combine in the worst ways.

In turn, that means the big lesson this year is all about the risk of lower seed populations.

Seeding rates

Seeding rates have been a hot topic for the past three to five years. Then, with a drop in soybean prices in the forecasts last spring, many growers shaved their rates in order to cut their production costs.

Yet cutting your seeding rate isn’t for the faint of heart, and Horst Bohner for one isn’t a strong advocate of the practice.

Bohner understands the theory — beans are genetically good at compensating for low populations — and under ideal conditions, he says, it’s always good to keep an open mind about basic practices like populations.

But Bohner, soybean specialist for the Ontario agriculture ministry says this year, conditions weren’t at all ideal in most fields.

“You can solve a lot of agronomic problems by simply increasing the seeding rate or keeping it at a relatively high rate,” says Bohner. “An acre of land needs a certain minimum number of plants for maximum yields. If you fall below that, you will give up yield.

“By keeping seeding rates reasonably high,” Bohner explains, “you increase the chances of an acceptable stand. Problems associated with soil crusting, poor depth control, excess corn residue, insect feeding or a little bit of phytophthora are reduced by putting down enough seed.”

Yes, he adds, under ideal conditions and a long growing season, and by selecting the best tall and bushy variety for a specific zone or field, it’s possible for a grower to get away with a lower plant density.

“But this 2014 growing season is a perfect example of why it doesn’t always work,” says Bohner. “We had problems with plant stands, and with pod-set per plant.

“What we care about is the number of seeds per acre and the size of the seed. We don’t care about how many plants you have out there, but if every plant can only bear so much in a given year…”

So when planting rates go down, each of the plants is responsible for an even larger share of the overall yield, and there are also fewer plants to fight against any of the challenges that are almost bound to come up.

In other words, you’re heading into “whatever can go wrong will go wrong” territory.

Of course, fields can be overplanted too, especially where there’s a history of white mould, or when overplanting results in lodging.

“Within management strategies,” Bohner says, “there is a huge range, and there are producers who make lower populations work for them, and good on them — why not?”

But, he adds, just because it can sometimes happen doesn’t mean that it’s always a good idea: “It certainly takes a higher level of management when you get into those more unique strategies.”

The long and the short of it is that the growing season, even in extreme southwestern Ontario, is relatively short, and the goal is to capture as much sunlight as possible.

“If you go to wider rows and reduced populations, you just don’t have the leaf area to catch the sunlight,” Bohner says.

Diseases – east and west

As might be expected, sclerotinia (white mould) has been a problem both in eastern Ontario and in the southwest this year. For Clare Kinlin, sclerotinia is a constant issue in the east, one that was so bad in 2014 that in some fields he could see it from the highway.

Unfortunately, Kinlin says, the disease isn’t likely to go away any time soon, given the trend in rotation practices.

“We’re growing more and more soybeans every year,” says Kinlin, sales manager of the crop division for MacEwen Agricentre, based in Maxville, Ont. “We’re really starting to turn into a corn-soybean rotation.”

More beans in the rotation mean more pressure from white mould, especially in a moderately wet climate like eastern Ontario.

On the positive side though, growers are hungry for more information on how to overcome or compensate for the disease.

“They’re saying, ‘OK, we’re trying to get a tonne and a half out of these fields, so how do we get these beans to yield?’” says Kinlin. “There’s a real desire to get beans to yield, and the really frustrating part with soybeans is trying to get them to respond to anything.”

Plant populations in the region are generally 180,000 to 200,000, which was a slight increase for 2014. There’s also a greater tendency to move to 30-inch rows, a practice that’s gaining ground as more growers get rid of their drills and switch soybeans to their planters. The move is giving them better everything — better depth control, better emergence, better stands and less white mould.

“White mould is the big one, and it’s bad, it’s here to stay and that’s nothing new,” says Kinlin, setting his sights on 2015.

Asked if there’s anything to combat sclerotinia going forward into 2015, Kinlin says it all comes down to one thing: “Residue management — that first pass for next year is the combine this fall. We need to do a better job of (corn) residue management, in terms of spreading it or working it in uniformly and consistently. With 200-bushel corn and that leaves a lot of residue, and beans struggle with that.”

Six-hours’ drive west and south, Dave Curry faced the same problem in 2014. As agronomist with Parkland Farms near Sarnia, Ont., Curry oversees the operation of several thousand acres each year. And like Kinlin, he’s seen more white mould than he’d care to, although he would have expected to see more, given the cooler and wetter growing conditions this past year.

“We’re usually pretty good about planting the right variety in a field that we know has a history of white mould, where we tried to make sure we were going in with wider rows and actually planting with lower seeding populations, and planting a variety with a good genetic resistance to it,” says Curry.

Still, Parkland’s soybeans were largely planted during the last week of May and early June this year, so the crop wasn’t as lush and the onset of white mould was slower. “There was the odd pocket,” Curry says, “but I didn’t come across as much as I would have expected.”

Another sign of the cool, wet weather that Curry had to deal with was a higher-than-usual incidence of rhizoctonia on the wet spots that had some compaction issues in heavier clay. Despite the wetter-than-normal conditions, even in spite of the later planting, phytophthora wasn’t a problem, and sudden death syndrome was only an issue later in the season.

Curry was busy taking notes late in August, and mapping out the cropping plan for 2015, and perhaps eyeing 2016 in an effort to stem the spread of all of the diseases he saw.

“With certain diseases they’re going to last a lot longer,” says Curry, noting that the sclerotia associated with white mould can remain viable in the soil for years.

“It’s not a matter of if you rotate away for a couple of years, it’s gone,” Curry says. “We need to plan it longer term so that when we go back in with soybeans, we make the proper management decisions.”

Curry adds that it’d be great to be able to break the disease cycle completely by putting in a forage crop for three or four years, but for most growers, including his operation, that’s not an option. Many farmers he knows are moving to tighter rotations, although he’s maintaining his three-crop plan because he says he gets upwards of a five-bushel-per-acre yield rotational bump on his soybeans.

Curry also tries to manage the farming operation with very little tillage, yet he acknowledges there’s the temptation to bury the sclerotia associated with white mould, even to reduce the pressure for a year. But research from the U.S. suggests that given the long life of those mould spores, it’s possible that when you try to bury one year’s sclerotia, you bring other, still viable sclerotia back up to the surface.

Curry’s other concern is fungicide resistance. According to reports from the U.S., populations of two diseases, frogeye leaf spot and rhizoctonia have been confirmed to be resistant to strobilurins, and he’s watching that situation.

It’s still a long way from his Ontario ground, but Curry says that he knows of sugar beet farms in Lambton County and in Michigan that have run out of answers to the Cercospora resistance problem. And he wonders if its spread into soybeans closer to home isn’t just a matter of time.

This article was originally published as a Soybean Guide feature in the October 2014 issue of Country Guide

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