Fungicide timing for the control of septoria tritici blotch of wheat

Abstract

A field trial during the 200506 growing season used different fungicides and timing of fungicide applications to manipulate the development of Septoria tritici blotch on artificiallyinoculated wheat (cv Consort) Disease severity was assessed once or twice a week and the area under the disease progress curve (AUDPC) calculated The fungicide azoxystrobin applied at the prestem extension stage of crop growth had the lowest AUDPC and provided the best level of protection against the disease on the top three leaves Good control of the disease was also obtained from prestem extension and stemextension (growth stage GS32) applications of a mixture of azoxystrobin and epoxiconazole Epoxiconazole applied at the prestem extension stage and azoxystrobin and epoxiconazole mixture applied at growth stages 37 and 39 did not provide adequate control of the disease This work is part of a project aiming to provide information for development of disease models and forecast systems to assist growers with disease control decisions