Research Triangle Park, North Carolina, USA
July 14, 2011
With soybean prices at an all-time high, it is arguably the most important time ever for soybean growers to squeeze as much yield as possible out of every acre. Unfortunately, for some growers, the season has not started as they hoped.
With the uncertainties soybean growers across the Midwest face because of the late planting season this spring, early scouting and proactive disease control measures will be crucial to minimizing risk and achieving maximum yields in 2011.
Growers who find disease presence during scouting should consider a well-timed application of Headline® fungicide, which protects soybean crops, curbs disease and provides Plant Health benefits.
“Profit potential has soybean growers looking to capitalize on excellent commodity prices in 2011,” said Nick Fassler, Technical Market Manager, BASF. “With soybean prices at an all-time high, it’s extremely important for growers to protect their investments in order to get the greatest return on investment from their acres.”
Soybeans are often stressed by unpredictable weather conditions and high disease pressure, making proactive management strategies—including scouting—extremely important. As the season heats up, crops become stressed as they compete for sunlight, nutrients and water, leaving them susceptible to damaging diseases, making a grower’s fungicide choice critical to maximizing yield potential.
“It’s important for growers and retailers to get in the fields to understand what pressures they’re facing and address the timing aspect of a potential fungicide application,” said Fassler. “Proper timing of a fungicide application is crucial to ensure growers are making an application at the optimum growth stage to protect from late season diseases, such as septoria brown spot, frogeye leaf spot and cercospora leaf blight.
“Research clearly shows the optimal timing of a fungicide for growers across the Midwest is at R3, giving the maximum residual for minimizing stress, protecting the crop canopy and providing maximum quality at harvest. By applying Headline fungicide, growers will protect their soybeans from late-season foliar diseases, to finish the season strong,” continued Fassler.
With extensive on-farm research conducted from 2005-2010, soybean growers have seen the benefits of Headline fungicide in protecting yield. In more than 30 university replicated soybean trials, Headline provided consistent yield advantages of more than 3.8 bushels per acre over untreated areas, while regularly outperforming competitive products.
For more information on BASF Crop protection products, visit http://agproducts.basf.us, like us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter.
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