July 31, 2003

 

Fungicide Application Research on Small Grains

North Dakota State University researchers are learning the most efficient and effective ways to spray pesticides and fungicides.

When spraying small grains, droplet size and the type of equipment used can make a big difference, says Scott Halley, NDSU Langdon Research Extension Center crop protection specialist. Halley’s research focuses mainly on improving fungicide applications. He has been working on the project for several years with Vern Hofman, NDSU Extension Service agriculture engineer. Also working with Halley is Gary Van Ee, an engineer from Michigan State University.

"Technology has advanced so that we can now use the air to carry the droplets to the target, Halley says. "We’re also looking at water volume. A higher volume of water has a different concentration of fungicide than low volume. We want to determine if a large droplet with a low fungicide concentration is more efficient than a small droplet with very high concentration of fungicide."

Halley has recently completed field-spraying trials at the Langdon Center using five different spray technologies. Hofman and Halley also conducted aerial spraying tests at sites located near Hunter and St. Thomas.

Halley is testing fungicide efficacy using a dye that is mixed with the solution. The technique was developed by Suranjan Panigrahi, NDSU agricultural engineer. The dye is used to test how much of the fungicide hits the main target such as the wheat head. Halley and Hofman also are using moisture sensitive paper to measure droplet size.

"There has always been the belief that if we can do a better job of applying the fungicide to disease-sensitive areas we can get better mileage out of our fungicide either through increased control or by reducing the spray rate," Halley says. "Reducing the spray rate would also be more environmentally attractive."

New compounds in the market or in the experimental stage should also be a benefit to producers, Halley notes. "One of the new experimental compounds we’re testing is very linear in its efficacy. If you increase the spray rate you get better control. With some of the older and current compounds, many other factors begin to have an influence as you raise the spray rates which made testing application technologies much more difficult."

Halley is also beginning to test Canola. "So far we’ve found big gaps in coverage where another leaf or stem gets in the way," Halley says. "So now we have to determine how to alleviate that problem. One of the methods we tried with aerial spraying on wheat was to spray in two different directions to determine if that made a difference. So far what we’ve learned is that wind speed determines what side of the plant gets covered but our research will continue."

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Source: Scott Halley, (701) 256-2582, shalley@ndsuext.nodak.edu
Editor: Rich Mattern, (701) 231-6136, richard.mattern@ndsu.nodak.edu

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