Wet days in the second half of March do little to instil confidence in our ability to control septoria, one of the most devastating foliar diseases of wheat in these islands.

The seriousness of this septoria challenge is the focus of a one-day conference which takes place on Wednesday 22 March in Dunboyne Castle.

The conference will be told that the challenges in the battle against nature are immense and cannot be won by over reliance on fungicide use.

Nature will always win these battles unless we can have a virtually continuous flow of new defence technology and that is becoming increasingly limited.

While the main focus is on septoria control in wheat, the messages are the same for all diseases and all crops. For this reason, it is essential that those involved in the sector hear these critical messages to help the industry in the medium to long term.

The messages include the ability of genetics to help limit disease development and protect our few remaining chemistry classes.

Genetics and control

Genetics have the potential to help but they need strong and robust resistance in order to provide the opportunity to reduce fungicide input.

This is one of the few options we have to decrease our level of fungicide input so as to decrease the ongoing selection pressure in the field.

Cultural control can provide a helping hand also, but many of the measures needed might also affect yield potential.

As such, cultural control measures can help but some of the actions, such as late sowing, are less likely to be employed or effective in the field.

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