Maize spray keeps disease at bay

摘要

There is a growing case for applying an insurance foliar fungicide spray to maize crops to protect them from yield-sapping diseases that are on the rise in the UKLThe focus for crop protection in forage maize crops has typically been on herbicides, as the crop is particularly sensitive to early weed competition.However, its increased popularity as a livestock feed and the advent of the anaerobic digestion (AD) industry has increased its area and geographical spread, piling on the disease pressure, explains NIAB plant pathologist Jane Thomas."Disease in maize was relatively insignificant until 1998, when we saw a rapid increase in eyespot that coincided with the rapid increase in the total maize area, which continues to grow," she says.