NEWS for North Dakotans
Agriculture Communication, North Dakota State University
7 Morrill Hall, Fargo, ND 58105-5665

October 29, 1998

Preliminary Results in on 1998 Scab Fungicide Research

Preliminary results from 1998 uniform fungicide trials are showing that commercially available fungicides are effective in reducing the severity of Fusarium head blight (FHB or scab) on hard red spring wheat. The research was conducted by a team of researchers from seven states working through the U.S. National Wheat and Barley Scab Initiative.

"Our data indicates the foliar fungicides to suppress scab and leaf diseases gave positive economic results in 1998, even with the low prices," says Marcia McMullen, extension plant pathologist at North Dakota State University.

Based on early data from trials held in the Dakotas and Minnesota, commercially available fungicides produced yield increases on hard red spring wheat ranging from 4 percent to nearly 50 percent, McMullen says. In four North Dakota trials involving hard red spring wheat, commercial fungicides produced average yield increases of from 12.2 percent to 19.2 percent.

McMullen is 1998 coordinator for the fungicide technology network of the U.S. National Wheat and Barley Scab Initiative, a federally funded research effort the purpose of which is to stop scab from damaging U.S. wheat and barley crops. Along with McMullen, 10 other NDSU researchers are working on the fungicide component of this project. Besides fungicide technology, other research areas covered by the scab initiative include variety development, germplasm introduction, epidemiology and pathology, chemical and biological control, and biotechnology.

More than 20 individual reports on research efforts at NDSU relating to scab are in an October 1998 publication titled "Current Research on Fusarium Head Blight of Small Grains." Each county office of the NDSU Extension Service has a copy of this report. Producers and others interested in finding out more about scab research at NDSU should contact their local extension office.

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Source: Marcia McMullen (701) 231-7627

Editor: Dean Hulse (701) 231-6136