Aphanomyces root rot is a serious disease in lentil and pea crops, particularly if soils are waterlogged for any period of time, and can cause huge yield losses.
In recent years, two seed treatments used in combination have been registered for control of Aphanomyces root rot in these pulse crops.
On its own, Rancona Trio seed treatment provides suppression of Aphanomyces. In combination with Belmont 2.7 FS seed treatment, the efficacy is much better.
Meagen Reed, the Technical Service Specialist for UPL Corp in Saskatchewan, said the combination was able to achieve "an 80% or better reduction in aphanomyces disease severity in peas and lentils for the duration of the efficacy at early crop establishment."
"So that's, once the seed is in the ground for 21 days, which is the length of the efficacy of most seed treatments, you will see or can get up to or over an 80% reduction in that aphanomyces infection in peas and lentils."
She adds this is part of a layered approach "in a whole toolbox of other best management practices."
"Seed treatment is not a silver bullet, but right now it is the best product offering. Kind of feels like the only thing growers can do chemically on a year-to-year basis to give their crop the best chance at establishment in the early season."
As pulse crops, peas and lentils need to be inoculated with Rhizobium bacteria so they will fix their own nitrogen. Reed says if using Rancona Trio and Belmont seed treatments, there are cautions for inoculant safety.
"When we talk about inoculants, there is lower compatibility with liquid inoculants with the Rancona and Belmont mix, better with peats, and then obviously granular because it's not applied to the seed, has the highest survivability.
We have reference charts, we have compatibility charts that we can share. They're out and about. If anyone had questions on that and they want to use Rancona and Belmont and they're using a liquid, we do have a couple that we're compatible with. So that information is available. They can reach out, growers or agronomists can reach out to their rep or their local retail and we can help provide that information to them." said Reed.
Rancona Trio seed treatment contains a dye that shows seed has been treated. However, Belmont dries clear. For that reason, farmers can not treat their own seed with the combination. At least for now, it has to be done commercially.
(With files from Kevin Hursh)
