BE‘Well Dressed’

Discussing cereal trial results at the Seed Trade Open Day are Dermot Rowan,Drummonds Ltd, Roy Power, Seed Technology Ltd and Jim O’Mahony, Teagasc

Open day photos by Noel Maguire

Valuable Cropsat Risk

INSIDEBrome &Wild Oats

Net BlotchProblems

Inspection inProgress

The foundation for theproduction of high yielding

cereal crops starts with sowinggood quality, clean seed of thechosen varieties.

Many of the cereal diseases that areproblematic on crops during the growingseason also have a seed-borne phase.These pathogens are responsible forseed rots and seedling blights as well asthe smut diseases of the ears. Seed-borne pathogens are a constant threat tothe establishment and development ofthe growing crop.

In wheat the main diseases transmittedby seed are loose smut and covered smut,the Fusarium group of fungi and Septorianodorum. In barley, as in wheat, thesmuts and Fusarium species are alsoseed-borne. In addition net blotch, leafstripe, Rhynchosporium and Ramulariacan also be present on the seed.

Continued on page 6.

BrendanDunne

TeagascOakpark

S p o n s o r e d b y I r i s h S e e d Tr a d e A s s o c i a t i o n ( I S TA ) .

Sun and smiles at the Irish Seed Trade Association (ISTA) open day at Backweston.Pictured are Ken Daniels, Power Seeds Ltd., Paul Ward, President ISTA, Shay Phelan,Teagasc and Sean Gaule, Dept. of Agriculture & Food.

page 2

Serious Fusarium ProblemsAnticipated this Autumn

Bunt, fusarium, leaf stripe, loose smut, net blotch, septoria are all seed borne diseases which could destroy this crop.

The Irish Seed Trade Associationmet with Dept. of Agriculture &Food officials during July to planfor the forthcoming harvest in thelight of the extreme wet weatherconditions in June and July.

A high level of fusarium in Winter Wheatand Spring Barley and, depending onthe species of fusarium, in Oats isanticipated. Winter Barley is not usuallybadly affected.

Based on past experience, dormancycan also be a problem and efforts tobreak the dormancy will delay the resultsof tests being released. The SeedTesting Station is taking steps to reducethe extent of any potential delays.

Under normal weather conditions,

Tetrazolium test results with a level of94% + can be relied upon as anindication of final germination results.However, in wet weather a number offactors make this test less reliable.

Firstly, the test does not indicate thelevel of fusarium and its likely effect ongermination. Secondly, whilst aTetrazolium test will give an indication ofthe level of sprouting, one cannot tellhow these sprouted seeds will performon germination.

Mechanical damage also needs to befactored in so we need to be extremelycautious in the interpretation ofTetrazolium test results this year.Indeed, it may be best to wait for thedressed advisory germination resultsbefore bagging seed.

The Seed Testing Station has requestedthat ALL SAMPLES SUBMITTEDSHOULD BE SCREENED.. This willenable them to compare test results,assess the impact of the weather and toadvise on the interpretation of results.

Treatment should also control botrytis.Most infected seeds will be thrownout by the combine leaving infectionon the surface of other seeds, whichis controlled by the treatment. Thereis no reliable way at the point of intakeof visually assessing seed forfusarium infection.

Given the year that is in it, care shouldbe taken to check to ensure that seedvigour does not reduce over themonths between harvest and planting.So the best advice to farmers is to useonly Irish certified seed.

page 3

Since the introduction of strobilurinchemistry in 1996 net blotch hasnot been a major disease in barley

crops. However, the disease seems tohave made an unwelcome return inmany areas this season. The mainreason seems to be associated withdisease carryover on trash/volunteers,facilitated by the restriction on autumnploughing/glyphosate use. The mild,wet winter also favoured the survivaland spread of this disease.

The disease infects leaves, leaf sheathsand ears. The more severe the infection ison the upper leaves and heads, thegreater the crop loss. The fungusoverwinters on crop residue or seed.Rain and wind will spread the infectionfrom the residue. The high humidity andwarm temperatures during Junefavoured disease development and finalsprays on barley needed to be robust toprotect crops and reduce diseasecarryover to next season.

The main source of inoculum is infectedstubble and volunteer plants. Thedisease spreads mainly by airbornespores and rain splash.

Net Blotch requires high humidity andwet weather to infect a plant anddevelops faster at higher temperatures.This may explain why it may becomemost serious on the upper leaves andhead in the height of summer

Early symptoms appear as light greenblotches or brown spots on leaves;these enlarge into longitudinal brownstreaks, net-like in appearance. Thestreaks may be surrounded by ayellowish or chlorotic border.

The ear may also be infected but lesionsdo not usually appear.

Net Blotch can reduce yield byup to 40% and significantlyreduces thousand grain weight.Late season attacks will infectseed for following season.

Factors influencing severity of Net Blotch

1. Variety - see Department of Agricultureratings

2. Trash/Volunteers - need stubblecleanliness and good ploughing well inadvance of sowing to bury trash

3. Weather conditions - develops best inhigh humidity/wet conditions/hightemperatures

4. Rotation - disease carryover is morelikely following a barley crop

5. Cultivation - minimal cultivation favoursits spread

6. Fungicides - The strobilurins (e.g.Modem/Comet) give 90% +control

WHAT OTHERS SAY

Andy Doyle writing in the Irish FarmersJournal last June made the followingcomments.

“Net blotch can be a serious disease withpotentially devastating consequences foryield and quality… for many theappearance of net blotch on springbarley varieties this spring was asurprise…in general this very earlyinfection can be put down to seedinfection by the fungus. This could havehappened at the end of the growingseason in 2006 when some crops pickedup a bit of infection.”

Dr Simon Oxley, Senior Pathologist,Scottish Agricultural College writing in theIrish Farmers Journal last June made thefollowing comments.

“Seed borne infection of net blotch,rynchosporium and Ramularia, and a runof mild winters, increases the chances ofsome diseases carrying over from theprevious season...”

Rynchosporium remains a perennialthreat and the presence of the disease onseed explains why growers can seewidespread infection appear literallyovernight in January and February.

Seed may well be a rapid method tospread barley foliar diseases, includingstrains less sensitive to fungicide.

Net blotch has increased in severity inrecent years. This may be partly due tovariety choice and warm summers butthe major change has been the presenceof resistance to QoI fungicides.

Our picture courtesy of

O’Gorman Photography, shows

harvesting in operation on a

Tipperary farm.

This farmer has a high yielding

crop of valuable grain -

he used certified seed.

Net Blotch

page 4

NET BLOTCHRESISTANCE

Samples of Net Blotch from

Irish fields have been found to

contain the F129L gene, which

decreases its sensitivity to

Strobilurin fungicides. This gene

had been found in Belgium,

France and Britain.

GRASS WEEDHERBICIDE

RESISTANCE

Resistance is widespread on

the world stage in at least 100

different weed species.

Resistant black-grass, wild oats

and Italian ryegrass are now

widely distributed throughout

England.

WILD OATS

Some merchants are now

refusing to take feed grain that

is badly infected with wild oats.

Action is essential to curtail the

large yield losses (over 50%

where infections are high) and

quality losses associated with

this noxious weed - which

multiplies at an explosive rate.

One wild oat plant/ha can result

in one wild oat plant/sq m after

just four years in a winter

cropping situation. Herbicides

are expensive and resistance to

wild oats sprays does exist.

3 Good reasons to use certified seed

Jim Druhan, Dept. of Agriculture inspector checking acertified seed crop of Spectrum Winter Barley near Tullow

This photo of Loose Smut in a crop of Saffron was taken on a Kilkenny farm -infection can spread quickly to adjacent crops

Sterile brome is an expensive weed to control and difficult to clean from a graincrop. Resistant black grass, wild oats and Italian ryegrass are now widely

distributed in England. Minimise the spread of these troublesome weeds by usingIrish certified seed which is quality assured by DAFF and has been thoroughly

cleaned using modern hi tech equipment

page 5

Eamon Sweeney has 45 acres of winterwheat this season on his farm at Milltown nearTermonfeckin, Co. Louth. Last year he had acrop of barley and has been using certified seedfor the last 20 years. He is “very happy withservice from Drummonds Ltd and while price isalways a consideration, quality is the mostimportant issue”. He also has a herd of 60 +commercial cows and supplies Glanbia.

Unlike some others Eamon sells all his grainat harvest time or later “to the highest bidder”and purchases only compound feed for hisherd. High quality dairy nuts are purchased fromGlanbia (1-1.5 tonnes are fed per cow) and heis quite satisfied with the quality. “I am positiveabout the future for both cereals and milk andplan to expand both enterprises” says Eamon.

On this farm all replacements are purchased,calves are sold dropped and an AberdeenAngus bull from Michael O’Leary’s,Gigginstown herd is used for easy calving andto add value to the calves. So it’s no surprisethat on this well organised farm, certified seedis firmly on the agenda.

“When you buy from a reputable companywith the expertise and facilities you can expectto pay a little extra for a top quality product”says Eamon. “I don’t have to worry about wildoats in the seed -a big problem in this area orcross contamination of the seed. As the oldsaying goes you reap what you sow.”

According to Eamon “Drummonds do a goodjob checking certified seed crops… they arevery particular – farmers would find it verydifficult to do as good a job with their ownseed. With certified seed the moisture iscorrect; crop is up to standard and you have aguarantee of quality so if there ever was aproblem you have some comeback.”

AnotherFarmer’s Opinion

TEAGASC CEREAL CROP COSTINGS

Variable Costs excl. VAT (€/ha) 2008

Wheat Barley

Winter Spring

MATERIALS 520 308

Seed* 57 62

Fertilisers 227 135

Sprays:

Herbicides 50 36

Fungicides 140 60

Insecticides 34 15

Growth Regulators 12 0

HIRE MACHINERY 402 351

Plough, Till and Sow 146 146

Spray 85 51

Fertiliser Spreading 51 34

Harvesting 120 120

MISCELLANEOUS 68 42

Interest (7%) 23 9

Transport (€4.5/Tonne) 45 33

TOTAL VARIABLE COSTS 990 701

Tonnes to cover

variable costs 6.6 5.0

Net Price (€/Tonne) 150 140

Straw (€/ha) 75 90

*(future seed costs will reflect current cereal prices)

Eamon Sweeney tells his nephews Niall and Shane Brodigan thathe is “delighted with this crop of Einstein”.

The Value ofCertified Seed

As can be seen from this Teagasctable the cost of certified seed is quitemodest compared with the likelyexpenditure on fungicides, herbicidesetc. Data from the National Farm Surveyover a 3 year period clearly shows thatwhile the top 25% of growers spendmore on (certified) seed their totalproduction costs are significantly lowerthan the bottom 25%. This is what onewould expect as those using certifiedseed will have a much lower bill forherbicides and fungicides. Certifiedseed costs around €2 per tonnebased on crop yield so it is anexcellent investment and thefoundation for a profitable crop.

Brendan DunneTeagasc

Oakpark

Protect your Crops withEffective Seed Dressings

page 6

In the case of the latter two diseases mostof the inoculum that will infect the growingcrop will originate on plant residues. Seed-borne infections may introduce thepathogen, or races of the pathogen, intoareas which were previously free of them.

The smuts, which result in the grain ininfected ears being totally replaced byfungal spores, are very visible in cropsgrown for seed. There is a threshold forsmutted ears in seed crops and seed cropsexceeding this threshold will not beapproved for seed.

There are four species of Fusarium whichare important as seed borne pathogens.They cause pre-emergence and post-emergence death of seedlings as well asbrown foot rot of the stem base. In wheat,Septoria nodorum seed infection can resultin distorted seedlings and seedling death.

On barley, while crop debris is the majorsource of inoculum, seed-borne net blotchand leaf stripe can result in weakening ofthe emerging seedlings and heavy infectionlevels on young plants.

Many seed-borne diseases are not easilydetectable by the naked eye and, toaccurately determine seed health,laboratory tests are required. These testsare carried out by the Dept. of Agriculture.They will also test home saved seed.

All cereal seed needs to have a suitablefungicide seed treatment applied to controlone or more of these diseases. Seedtreatments have a wider application thanthe control of the seed-borne diseasediscussed above. They will protect theseedlings from soil-borne Fusarium.

A number of the products used as seeddressings have systemic activity and willalso control foliar diseases, notably yellowrust and powdery mildew in the young crop.

Take-all can now be alleviated byusing Latitude seed dressing. Whileit does not provide complete controlit can allow a profitable crop to begrown in a situation where previouslyit was not possible.

Barley Yellow Dwarf virus requires twoinsecticide applications in the autumn tocontrol the disease in winter barley. In trialsat Oak Park, seed dressings containing theinsecticide imidacloprid, were 70% aseffective at controlling the disease as foliarsprays. One spray is still required for totalcontrol, however this seed dressing wouldallow the grower leeway to delay this sprayuntil late autumn – early winter.

Bird damage, especially crow damage, isa major problem on winter and springwheat crops. In trials carried out at OakPark on both spring and winter wheat usingundressed seed plant populations werereduced by 60% -70% due to feeding bycrows. Seed dressings containing thefungicide thiram resulted in plantpopulations that were approaching theoptimum with a consequent yield increaseof approximately 2.0 t/ha.

(continuedfrompage 1)

DEADLYdiseases !

� ERGOT• Poisonous to anybody or any

animal that eats it!• May cause:

Behavioural changesAbortion, LamenessConvulsion, Gangrene

• Ergot infects all cereals and60+ grass speciesControl of Ergot• Ploughing (15cm)

• Control of grass weeds• Seed treatments

� FUSARIUM SEEDLING BLIGHT• Infected seedlings can be stunted

or killed

� SEPTORIA NODORUM• Transmitted by both seed and crop

residues• Seed-borne infection can cause

seedling blight

� BUNT• Spores carried on seed surface

• Rapid build up as one bunted ear carries around

150 MILLION spores.

� LEAF STRIPE• Seed-borne on the grain or in the

seed coat• Capable of rapid build up

� LOOSE SMUT• Fungus infects seed embryo

• Infection can spread from adjacent crops

NET BLOTCH• Transmitted by seed and crop

residues - a bigger problem in 2007

Cereal Seed Dressings

Anchor

Baytan F

Beret Gold

Fungazi

Jockey F

Jockey P

Kinto

Latitude

Panoctine

Panoctine plus

Product

Carboxin + thiram

triadimenol +fuberidazole

fludioxil

imazalil

fluquinconzole

fluquinconzole +prochloraz

prochloraz +triticonazole

silthiofam

guazatine

guazatine + imazalil

Active Ingredients

Wheat, barley, oats

Wheat, barley, oats

Wheat, barley, oats

Barley

Barley

Wheat

Wheat, barley

Wheat, barley

Wheat

Wheat, barley, oats

Crop

All soil and seed bornediseases esp. Fusarium, birdcontrol activity

Foliar, soil and seed-bornediseases some take-all

Seed-borne disease control

Seed-borne diseases leafstripe and net blotch

Seed-borne disease, foliardiseases

Seed-borne and foliar diseasetake-all control

Seed and soil-borne diseases,seedling blights

Take-all, (applied with otherdressings)

Seed-borne diseases

Seed-borne diseases, leafstripe and net blotch

HOME SAVED SEED - A FARMERS VIEWRobert and his son John grow over 500 acres of winter cereals-50% wheat, barley, oats and some oilseed rape in theKildare area. They have been using certified seed for the last 20 years because they reckon its better value than farmsaved seed or swopping varieties with neighbours.

Prior to this they had used home saved seed but when they did their calculations and allowed for the extra costs incurredthere was no real savings to be made. According to Robert when you take into account the cost of seed dressing, croplosses due to cleaning and drying plus the extra work involved at a busy time any, savings made are minimal.

Sowing early is important to them so “turnaround time is critical”. Certified seed is conveniently packaged, free oftroublesome weeds such as cleavers, wild oats and sterile brome which one cannot guarantee when using farm savedseed. Sterile brome is very difficult to clean out of seed and of course wild oats is a very expensive problem to deal withif seed is contaminated.

This year Robert expects Fusarium to be a big problem in winter wheat and says that growers using farm saved seedshould have worries about its impact on seed vigour even when seed is dressed. So while certified looks moreexpensive per acre his son John says that it is actually works out cheaper per tonne of crop yield.

page 7

Disease CouldDEVASTATE Your Crops

• Bunt, fusarium, leaf stripe, loose smut, net blotch, septoria are seed borne diseases.• Certified seed has kept these dangerous & expensive diseases under control.• It is irresponsible and unfair to use undressed or incorrectly dressed seed.• Consider the extra cost of controlling weed grasses, sterile brome, wild oats etc.• Certified seed is properly cleaned and free of weed seeds and other impurities.• Certified seed is bigger, healthier, stronger and has better germination.• Why take unnecessary risks with your and your neighbours valuable crops?

Working together we canensure that Irish cereal

growers and their valuablecrops are protected fromdangerous seed borne

diseases and more expensiveweed problems.

Discussing market prospects at the Seed Trade Open Dayat Backweston. Pictured are Michael Higgins, Teagasc,Donal Fitzgerald, Goldcrop, Donal Moloney, Glanbia

Agribusiness and Nicholas Magill, Dept of Agriculture, Food.

Discussing the impact of poor weather on harvesting at theIrish Seed Trade Association Open day are Des Slaughter,Odlums Ltd, Paul Ward, President ISTA, Gerry Lohan, Deptof Agriculture & Food and Tim O Donovan, Teagasc.

Irish Seed Trade Association.Marina House , Clarence Street , Dun Laogha ire , Co. Dubl in .

E - m a i l i s t a @ f m c o . i e

ISTA – the Irish Seed Trade Association wish to thank the Dept. of Agriculture & Food, Irish Farmers Journal, SAC, Teagasc, UCD and trade personnel for photos used and technical information provided.

Average cereal yields have increased by2% pa over the last century-about halfof this is due to improved varieties.Plant breeding requires a substantialinvestment of financial resources andwithout royalties there would be noincentive for commercial breeding. Thevast majority of farmers recognise theneed for new varieties.

Farmers who purchase certif iedseed or pay the royalties due onhome saved seed should not beexpected to continue subsidisingthose who refuse to pay their fairshare. Farmers who breach the

intellectual property rights of plantbreeders by not paying royaltiesdue can expect to face the fullrigours of the law.

The Plant Variety Development OfficeLtd. will initiate legal proceedingsagainst those growers. Aside frompaying the accumulated royalties andhefty legal bill for both parties they mayalso suffer the embarrassment ofunwelcome publicity in the Agri media.

Teagasc also remind growers savingtheir own seed that they have a legalobligation to pay plant variety royalties.

Plant breeders ask for fair play

New Irish varieties arecritical to farm profitability

The EU has predicted that the 2007 cereal harvest will be 276 milliontonnes or 1.6% below the average of the last five years. Heat wavesand drought have had a detrimental effect in Central and EasternEurope, while unseasonably high rainfall in the North Atlantic and NorthSea areas has reduced potential yields in this region.