Ontario Grain Farmer February 2023

the incidence of Fusariumwas much lower, but the same results were found. Hooker says that the ideal time for spraying the new fungicide on wheat is during full flowering when at least 50 per cent of the anthers on the heads are exposed. In corn, it is when the silks have fully emerged, right before they turn brown. "The window of application for both should be within about a week," he says. While the maximum efficacy for suppression during the research was 80 per cent, Hooker says that the average would be about 50 per cent. "That's using the best technology for spraying — if there is poor coverage, for 24 example, the per cent of suppression goes down," he says, adding that ground application is best because aerial spraying tends not to be as consistent with coverage. With Ontario's shortage of ground applicators, Hooker says using aerial sprayers is better than not spraying at all. "Deciding on spray times is important — getting it wrong could result in substantial losses," he says, advising that it's best to spray fungicide as close as possible to the time the crops need it, depending on the weather, geography, and other factors. Hooker recommends using Miravis Ace in rotation with a triazole product because all are equally effective, and using both kinds of products is healthier in terms of combatting resistance in Fusarium. BIOLOGICALS While plant breeding and new fungicides have reduced the Fusariumthreat to a certain extent, Dr. Manish Raizada thinks microbes would be a good addition to the arsenal. Raizada is a professor in the University of Guelph's Department of Plant Agriculture. "Our target is that our microbes will allow farmers to reduce their fungicide rates by 50 per cent and that those savings would pay for the microbes, so there's no added cost," he says Raizada says that there have been many efforts all around the world to control Fusariumwith microbes but very little to show for it. "Our hypothesis was that there might be microbes along that silk channel that FUSARIUM EAR ROT. continued from page 23

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