Headline Trials

Richard Proost, NPM, Cooperative Extension & CALS                                                                                   

Speak of soybean rust and you’ll have the attention of most Wisconsin farmers. Despite early indications that soybean rust will not be as destructive in Wisconsin as it is in other countries, the 2005 growing season saw many fields sprayed with a fungicide to prevent soybean rust.  Some farmers justified spraying a fungicide as a way to “improve plant health” thus improving yield and some company marketing also claimed increased yields due to improved plant health.

In an effort to substantiate this plant health claim, the NPM program is again cooperating with Craig Grau, Department of Plant Pathology, and Bryan Jensen, IPM Program, to evaluate company claims that Headline fungicide enhances yield in the absence of fungal pathogens. The claim is that when Headline is applied at the late R-2 to R-3 stage of soybean development, soybean yield increases an average of 6 bushels per acre.

Last year’s large scale, side-by-side strip trials found an economic advantage for using Headline in only 1 out of 9 trials. These results were reported at the Wisconsin Fertilizer, Aglime, and Pest Management Conference and can be found in the 2006 Proceedings on pages 127-129.

The research is being repeated in 2006 to determine if last year’s results persist and to determine the conditions where yield increases occur. The NPM program will have 7 trials out on area farms and 4 other trials are being coordinated by UW colleagues. For more information about these Headline trials, contact Bryan Jensen (608-263-4073, bmjense1@wisc.edu).  Recommended practices for rust disease management are described on the UW Plant Pathology’s Soybean Plant Health website (www.plantpath.wisc.edu/soyhealth) and in Grau’s publication Soybean Rust Management in Wisconsin, 2005 (hard copy from the NPM program or download from the website).