Agronomy

FROM THE SEED DESK Dean Oberle

Three Steps to build Corn & Soybean Plant Health

Based on Extensive information and the experience of BASF field staff, here are three steps to a better yield in your corn and soybean production.

1. Plant seed that has strong YIELD potential for your area. It would be simple if top-performing corn hybrids and high-yielding soybean varieties were all resistant to major foliar diseases. But they are not. In fact, corn and soybean plants are NOT resistant to most diseases, meaning you have to manage Plant Health more closely. And even when the agronomic package of the hybrid or variety includes some disease resistance, the seed may not be the best choice for your situation. That is why the most important consideration in selecting seed remains to be its ability to produce yield in your area.
2. Rotate your Crops. Crop rotation can be an effective disease management technique. Many plant experts recommend each year of soybean production, be followed by two (2) years of another crop on that field for effective disease management via crop rotation. Even then, alternative host plants in the field must be controlled regularly to increase the odds that crop rotation will help reduce disease pressures.
3. Use Headline Fungicide. Treat your corn and soybeans with Headline fungicide to control foliar diseases, including preventative treatment against Asian soybean rust. Good disease control helps you realize the Plant Health benefits of growth efficiency and stress tolerance. Chemigation is an application option in corn that many growers have found successful- with good planning and calibration for adjuvant use, coverage and timing.

Headline protects against these major foliar diseases in corn:

* Gray Leaf Spot (GLS)
* Common Corn Rust
* Northern Corn leaf blight
* Northern corn leaf spot
* Southern corn leaf blight
* Anthracnose
* Yellow leaf blight

Headline protects against these major foliar diseases in soybeans: