| Arable
PGRO & BEPA update
“There will be many who are now significantly behind in
their spring sowing campaign, the prolonged cold having
been succeeded by continuing wet soil conditions.
s we slip into April
there will be many
who are now
significantly
behind in their
spring sowing
campaign, the prolonged cold
having been succeeded by
continuing wet soil conditions,”
comments Roger Vickers, Chief
Executive of PGRO.
With limited opportunities for
good soil and sowing conditions,
the rush is on to make the most of
April for spring bean and pea
sowings. Whilst sowings of beans
beyond the latter half of April may
start to impact yield potential, the
good news is that the chances of
Bruchid beetle damage are also
reduced, increasing the
opportunity for reaching human
consumption export premiums.
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“While the prospect of later April
sowing might tempt some growers
to consider switching out of a
pulse crop this spring, it is still too
early to see that step as an option.
That said, the trade has long been
forecasting a bean area fall of
around 10% this spring and for
peas to fall up to 25%.
“As European export quality
beans have dried up, Australian
beans have increased in value,
rising approximately $30/tonne.
Along with rising alternative
protein market, values this has
seen a rise of approximately £4/t in
feed bean prices over the month.
“The outlook for new crop
pulses is considered to be good.
Beans are being well supported by
the feed users and the human
consumption market will be
hungry for the new crop. New crop
A quarter of UK septoria
isolates carry SDHI
mutations
The frequency of septoria tritici isolates with mutations
that confer reduced sensitivity to SDHIs continues to
increase at UK sites.
ccording to early
season monitoring
work co-funded by
AHDB, 26 per cent
of all isolates
gathered and
tested carried an SDHI mutation.
This compares to 15 per cent and
0 per cent of all isolates tested in a
similar period during 2017 and
2016, respectively.
Collected from 22 commercial
and trial sites across England,
Wales and Scotland, the ADAS-led
work also shows the frequency of
such mutations is highly variable
across the UK.
In 2018, SDHI mutation
frequency ranged from zero per
cent at one site to 48 per cent of
isolates carrying detectable
mutations at another.
Isolates containing the highly
SDHI-resistant C-H152R mutation
were not detected at any site in
2018, indicating it is only present
at a very low level at the start of
this season.
Paul Gosling, who manages
AHDB’s fungicide resistance work,
said: “Despite the variability in the
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monitoring data, a clear trend can
be seen: SDHI mutation frequency
is increasing in UK septoria
populations. We’ve also seen
examples of double mutants
starting to appear.
“The increase is not rapid,
however, and it’s good we’ve not
yet seen highly resistant septoria
isolates with low fitness costs. It
means the battle against SDHI
resistance in septoria is far from
lost and growers need to keep on
with strong anti-resistance
measures in their fungicide
programmes.”
Experience from Ireland in 2017
shows that moderately resistant
septoria isolates, at similar
frequencies to those found in the
UK, can be managed using robust
rates of azole and a multisite,
alongside SDHIs. This approach
not only gives better septoria
control but has been shown
repeatedly in trials to slow the
spread of resistant isolates.
Information on fungicide
resistance