Skip to content
Grain Farmers of Ontario is the province’s largest commodity organization,
representing Ontario’s 28,000 barley, corn, oat, soybean and wheat farmers.
Search
Ontario Grain Farmer Magazine

OCCC Ontario Performance Trials – Fungicide vs no fungicide

Principal Investigator: Ontario Cereal Crop Committee (OCCC)

Research Institution: OCCC

Timeline: January 2016 – Ongoing  

Objectives:

  • Determine the influence of fungicides on rankings and performance of varieties in the winter wheat, spring wheat, barley, and oat Ontario Performance Trials.

Impacts:

  • The provision of independent data regarding the relative tolerance of cereal varieties to a range of fungal leaf and head diseases, with and without the use of foliar fungicide, will assist all growers in selecting varieties best suited to their growing conditions and management practices.

Scientific Summary:

The Ontario Cereal Crop Committee (OCCC) conducts variety performance trials to determine the genetic potential and adaptation of cereal varieties in Ontario. Historically, OCCC Variety Performance Trials had been conducted in the absence of fungicides. As growers moved to increasing fungicides as a part of their normal management practices, particularly in wheat, the committee undertook a 3-year project starting in 2010 comparing varieties without and with fungicide application. The main objective was to determine the influence of fungicides on provincial variety rankings and performance of the winter wheat, spring wheat, barley, and oat.

The report prepared by Dr. Dave Hooker from intensive / non-intensive winter wheat trials (2010-2013) was presented to the OCCC in January 2013, with the spring cereal report following shortly after. Trial results confirmed that there is a varietal response to fungicide applications in winter and spring wheat and oats, but to a lesser extent with barley. The committee then voted to make it standard protocol to run intensive trials at select locations for all crops.

Winter wheat, spring wheat and oats all remain ‘mandated’ for intensive management at certain locations. Due to the inconclusive results on barley over the years, it remains up to the trial location operator if they wish to spray. Not all locations are run as intensive sites – participation of each location is on a voluntary basis and some locations opt not to spray fungicide, for various reasons.

OCCC coordinates collection and analysis of intensive trial data and releases the results through the OCCC performance trial reports. The results are communicated by the OCCC to Ontario cereal producers and the farming community in Ontario through the OCCC www.gocereals.ca website.

External Funding Partners:

BASF

Bayer

Syngenta  

Project Related Publications:

None.