Just like humans, crops are subject to stress caused by factors in their environment every day. And just like humans, if crops are stressed, they will not function and perform up to their maximum potential. In this webinar, we will gain an understanding of these factors that affect overall plant health, so that we can better understand why our crops perform the way that they do. We will also discuss plant health products that have the unique ability to not only control key diseases, but also help crops mitigate their reaction to environmental stresses that could negatively impact performance.

Presenter: Mike Probst, Technical Service Representative, BASF

• Plant Health – Goes beyond disease and disease control
  • For many fungicides it means disease control
  • Another aspect is environmental stress
• Disease Control
  • Cercospora Leaf blight
  • Frogeye leaf spot
  • Target Spot disease
• The Impact of Disease on Soybean Yield
  • Southern IL Fungicide Trial 2018 – 9 bushel response
  • Southern IL Fungicide Trial 2018 – 6 bushel response
• Understanding Diseases: Signs vs Symptoms
  • Sign – Physical evidence of the pathogen
  • Symptom – A result or reaction to infection
• Preventative vs Curative Control
  • Strobilurins for preventative – Prior to infection
  • Triazoles for curative
  • SDHIs are mixed bag
• Methods of Disease Control
  • Mechanical control – Till residue under to prevent overwintering
  • Cultural control – Resistant varieties, wider rows, crop rotation
  • Chemical control – Fungicide
• Environmental stress abiotic sources:
  • Insects
  • Excess moisture
  • Heat
  • Drought
  • Hail – severe weather
• Yield Loss from environmental stress
  • Normally, 60-75% of flowers abort
    • R4, moisture stress or high temperatures – reduces total pod number per plant
    • R6 moisture stress reduces seed size
• Impacts of Stress
  • Ethylene production – Causes plant tissue to die (same thing causes crops to die and dry down in fall)
  • Closed Stomata – stomata important for:
    • Transfer of gases
    • Transpiration
    • Temperature regulation
  • Reactive Oxidative Species – during stress