Tech Note

landmark.com.au

Flutriafol a clear winner for cerealsDisease background In the early 2000’s, stripe rust appeared as a new cereal disease in WA that threatened to severely impact growers’ financial returns. While stripe rust didn’t emerge to be as damaging as first thought, the research did help identify that flutriafol applied in-furrow could offer growers much more than just stripe rust protection.

Economic analysisLandmark product development has conducted more than 20 trials containing flutriafol dating back to 2001, both in the presence and absence of disease across a range of environments. An interesting finding from these trials is that flutriafol has consistently given a positive yield response, even when there is no disease.

Landmark flutriafol results summary

Crop Number of trials Average yield gain

Wheat 11 4.26%

Barley 5 6.70%

Economic analysis for flutriafol use in wheat based on Landmark trial results

Crop yield(t/ha)

Additional grain (4%)

Profit*$/ha

Profit over 1000 ha

2 0.08 16.4 $ 16,400

2.5 0.10 22 $ 22,000

3 0.12 27.6 $ 27,600

3.5 0.14 33.2 $ 33,200

4 0.16 38.8 $ 38,800

Profit* $/ha in the table above assumes a return on wheat of $280/t and deducts the flutriafol cost of $6/ha (the approximate price of 400 mL/ha). Growers can use lower flutriafol rates for crops in areas of lower yield potential.

98

100

102

104

106

108

110

Dividend1.3 L/t +

flutriafol IF400 mL/ha

Flutriafol IF400 mL/ha

Dividend1.3 L/t

Untreated

Perc

enta

ge

of

un

trea

ted

100%

103%104%

108%

Seed and in-furrow fungicide response at Northam 2011, Landmark Product Development

LSD 0.05 = 6%Coefficient of variation = 3.4IF = in-furrow

Control optionsIn recognised or potential disease risk situations, Landmark recommends the use of flutriafol fungicide. Flutriafol has registration on six cereal diseases, although it has been recognised for some time that it has activity on additional soil and foliar diseases. It is believed suppression of these minor diseases helps contribute to some of the yield gains seen in Landmark trials, which often makes flutriafol more profitable than other seed or in-furrow treatments.

Flutriafol is registered in wheat and barley for diseases including stripe rust, scald, take-all, net form net blotch and powdery mildew. It can be applied as a coating on solid fertiliser granules or injected in a liquid stream below the seed. Flutriafol is compatible with a range of liquid products including Flexi N, Flexi NK and Flexi NS.

For all the latest information on cereal disease control, contact your local Landmark store or agronomist.

As an example, at the 400 mL/ha rate, flutriafol has consistently given more than a 4% yield increase in wheat without disease. At a cost of between $5 and $6/ha for 400 mL/ha of Intake, a 4% yield gain on a 2 t/ha crop represents an increased profit of $16/ha. Other scenarios are given below.