Princeton, Kentucky
April 4, 2007
Thanks to a cooperative effort,
Kentucky’s wheat farmers will again have access to a product for
combating a wheat disease that can cause tremendous economic
losses.
Fusarium head blight of wheat and deoxynivalenol (DON)
accumulation in harvested grain are periodically serious
problems in Kentucky, causing significant yield and grain
quality losses. Since 2004, the state has received a specific
exemption from the U.S.
Environmental Protection Agency, commonly called a Section
18 exemption, to use the fungicide Folicur to combat head
blight.
On March 26, the EPA reissued the exemption for Folicur 3.6F and
Oruis 3.6F to control head blight in wheat in Kentucky. The
exemption expires May 30, and no applications can be made
following that date.
Don Hershman, plant pathologist with the
University of Kentucky College
of Agriculture, along with colleagues from the Kentucky
Department of Agriculture, requested the exemption again this
year but under a new approval process. This year the
three-tiered process required the comparison of Folicur’s
advantage over two other products, one on the market and one
about to be released, in terms of profit versus loss.
Hershman said there were significantly different price levels
between the products and that difference allowed for the request
to meet the exemption approval process.
Under the Section 18 exemption, wheat producers can make one
application of the product using ground or aerial equipment at a
rate of 4 ounces of formulation per acre per season. The
applications can be made from the time the wheat head is half
emerged until the end of flowering. Applications must be made 30
days prior to harvest. A copy of the section 18 label must be in
your possession at the time of application.
The proper use of Folicur will reduce the risk of FHB and DON
when used with other FHB/DON management tactics, Hershman said.
But the product is not a silver bullet.
“We need to stress that 40 to 50 percent control is about the
best one could expect with this treatment,” he said.
“Twenty-five to 35 percent is more realistic. The key is to
think in terms of disease suppression, not control.”
For more information on this Section 18 exemption and wheat
diseases, contact a county Cooperative Extension office. The use
of wheat fungicides and application methods will also be
discussed by Hershman at the UK Wheat Field Day on May 15 at the
UK Research and Education Center in Princeton.
UK College of Agriculture,
through its land-grant mission, reaches across the commonwealth
with teaching, research and extension to enhance the lives of
Kentuckians.
Writer: Laura Skillman |
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