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Yield Response of DEKALB® Brand Corn Products to Fungicide Applied at Flowering

March 24, 2022

TRIAL OBJECTIVE

  • Corn products yield response to fungicide applied at the R1 growth stage varies. Understanding which corn products to target with fungicides should help ease management decisions by growers.

  • This trial helped determine the magnitude of yield response from individual corn products.

RESEARCH SITE DETAILS

  • An early relative maturity (RM) (less than or equal to 103 day RM) corn product replicated trial was established in Mason, Michigan and a late RM (greater than 103 day RM) corn product trial was established in Colon, Michigan.

  • DEKALB® brand corn products for Michigan were selected by local agronomists.

  • The trial in Mason was a split-plot design with three replications with hybrid as the whole plot and fungicide as the sub-plot. This location received rainfall without irrigation.

  • The trial in Colon was irrigated with a strip trial with a single replication.

  • An application of Delaro® Complete Fungicide (10 oz/acre) was made on 7/13/21 in Mason and 7/14/21 in Colon at the R1 corn growth stage using a high-clearance sprayer with 20 gal/acre of water as carrier.

Mason, Michigan

Location Mason, MI Soil Type Loam

Previous
Crop
Soybean Tillage
Type
Conventional


Planting Date 4/26/21 Harvest Date 9/27/21

Potential Yield
(bu/acre)
200 Seeding Rate
(seeds/acre)
34,000


Colon, Michigan

Location Colon, MI Soil Type Sandy loam

Previous
Crop
Soybean Tillage
Type
Conventional


Planting Date 4/27/21 Harvest Date 9/18/21

Potential Yield
(bu/acre)
250 Seeding Rate
(seeds/acre)
36,000


UNDERSTANDING THE RESULTS

  • Below average rainfall was received until late-June and then near-normal for the remaining season in Mason.

  • Moderately high tar spot pressure was present in Colon and moderate pressure in Mason. The heightened pressure is Colon could be explained by the presence of consistent irrigation moisture.

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Figure 1. Yield response of DEKALB® brand corn products treated with fungicide at the R1 growth stage in Mason, MI.

image
Figure 2. Yield response of DEKALB® brand corn products treated with fungicide at the R1 growth stage in Colon, MI.

KEY LEARNINGS

  • The average yield advantage to an application of Delaro® Complete Fungicide at R1 was 13 bu/acre.

  • Fungicide applications tend to result in a yield increase; however, select corn products demonstrated a greater yield benefit from the fungicide.

  • Management practices should first target corn products with the greatest response for fungicide applications.



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