Is there any merit to treatment of soybeans with a fungicide in the absence of any obvious disease problems? It goes against logic to think that there would likely be any response to this fungicide application, but stranger things have happened in crop production.
Jim Long, retired Crop Variety Development Researcher at the Parsons Research Center at Parsons, and Doug Jardine, Extension Plant Pathologist from K-State did a two year study using several different well known fungicides to determine if the practice mentioned above really would result in increased yields.
The fungicides included Folicure, Domark, Headline, Quadris and Quilt. The soybean variety used was a group 5. All five of the fungicides listed previously were applied on the beans when they reached the R3 growth stage which is beginning pod set. In addition to the R3 stage, Quilt was also used at the R1 stage which is beginning bloom, and at the R5 stage which is pod fill. A check was used to determine yield without the affect of a fungicide. This trial was done in both 2007 and 2008. The results were not spectacular.
There was no significant increase in yield among all of the fungicide treatments when compared to the yield on the check even at the more advanced R5 growth stage. Treatments with two of the fungicides even resulted in reduced yield as compared to the check, though this reduction was not statistically significant.
So, does this put to rest once and for all the question of whether this practice will have any significant affect on the yield of soybeans. Probably not because research will, undoubtedly, continue and somewhere down the road someone may find that under certain conditions, there may indeed be a significant response to this practice. For now, at least, if someone asks me if I think they should do this, I would have to say no. However, if I see evidence that does show a positive response, I will be taking a close look.
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Is there any merit to treatment of soybeans with a fungicide in the absence of any obvious disease problems? It goes against logic to think that there would likely be any response to this fungicide application, but stranger things have happened in crop production.
Jim Long, retired Crop Variety Development Researcher at the Parsons Research Center at Parsons, and Doug Jardine, Extension Plant Pathologist from K-State did a two year study using several different well known fungicides to determine if the practice mentioned above really would result in increased yields.
The fungicides included Folicure, Domark, Headline, Quadris and Quilt. The soybean variety used was a group 5. All five of the fungicides listed previously were applied on the beans when they reached the R3 growth stage which is beginning pod set. In addition to the R3 stage, Quilt was also used at the R1 stage which is beginning bloom, and at the R5 stage which is pod fill. A check was used to determine yield without the affect of a fungicide. This trial was done in both 2007 and 2008. The results were not spectacular.
There was no significant increase in yield among all of the fungicide treatments when compared to the yield on the check even at the more advanced R5 growth stage. Treatments with two of the fungicides even resulted in reduced yield as compared to the check, though this reduction was not statistically significant.
So, does this put to rest once and for all the question of whether this practice will have any significant affect on the yield of soybeans. Probably not because research will, undoubtedly, continue and somewhere down the road someone may find that under certain conditions, there may indeed be a significant response to this practice. For now, at least, if someone asks me if I think they should do this, I would have to say no. However, if I see evidence that does show a positive response, I will be taking a close look.
