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

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.

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.

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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