R293 Matching Blight Fungicides to Cultivar Resistance
Author/Contact :
Contractor :
Aim: To demonstrate the effectiveness of fungicide control on cultivars with a wide range of foliar blight resistance ratings, and to meet the requirements of the EU Thematic Strategy on the sustainable use of pesticides.
In 2006, the researchers studied the levels of foliar blight, tuber blight and blight-free yield for two different varieties when a range of commercial blight fungicides were applied at fixed seven and ten-day intervals. The varieties were King Edward and Saturna at SAC, and King Edward and Maris Piper at ADAS
The blight-free yield results at SAC showed that a foliar blight rating of 4 (for Saturna) compared with 3 (for King Edward) can substantially reduce the importance of spray interval and also fungicide product.
Further work was carried out in 2007 to determine the level of blight control for different levels of fungicide input on cultivars representing different classes of foliar blight resistance. Full label rate and three quarter rate of three fungicide products were evaluated at 7 and 10 day intervals on three representative cultivars during canopy complete stage through to desiccation. The long term aim is to produce a robust data set to help the GB potato industry meet the requirements of the EU Thematic Strategy on the sustainable use of pesticides.
For details of the results from the 2006 trials follow the link for related project 807/242. For the report on the 2007 trials see the Related Publication below.
