Friday, 01 November 2024 09:55

Products to keep brassica seeds safe

Written by  Tim Redfern

Forage brassica crops provide an excellent source of energy and protein for grazing livestock at critical times of the year when the quantity and quality of pasture on offer is limiting livestock production.

A high yielding crop doesn’t just magically appear, good planning and management are critical to the outcome, particularly in the lead up to sowing and in the early stages of crop development.

One very important area for farmers to address is pest management. The first four to six weeks after sowing is a critical period in the life of a new crop, as seedlings emerge and develop their physical makeup. The longer a plant remains small, the more at risk it is to attack from both insects and fungal disease.

The loss of plants early can have a major impact on crop yield. The application of seed treatment agents onto seed helps mitigate against these risks, providing a low-cost early crop protection solution, helping ensure the crop is on its way to reaching its full genetic potential.

PGG Wrightson Seeds Ltd offers two different seed treatment options on brassica products supplied through its forage seed brands, PGG Wrightson Seeds and Agricom. The company has applied Ultrastrike and Gaucho to brassica seed for over 25 years, with both products market leaders in the seed treatment space. Of the two treatments, Ultrastrike is very much the premium product with its inclusion of systemic insecticide, two contact fungicides and molybdenum in the formulation, making it a more comprehensive offering than the insecticide- based Gaucho treatment.

The application of systemic insecticide in Ultrastrike provides protection against both biting and sucking insects, including Springtails, Aphids, Nysius and Argentine Stem Weevil. The active ingredient is released into the soil profile at germination. As the seedling develops it is taken up by the young plant roots and is translocated throughout the plant providing protection against the target insects for up to six weeks. The fungicide active-ingredients are also released into the soil profile at germination, creating a barrier around the root zone, blocking infection from the soilborne fungal pathogens; pythium, fusarium and rhizoctonia that cause ‘Damping Off’ disease in seedlings. The addition of molybdenum in the Ultrastrike treatment provides a startup supply of nutrient, that is available for fast uptake by the germinating seedling.

A field trial undertaken by PGG Wrightson Seeds Ltd in Canterbury highlighted how important seed treatment is in safeguarding seedlings through the plant establishment period. The scientific trial compared the plant establishment and subsequent crop yield of Ultrastrike treated kale seed and untreated kale seed.

An invasion of Springtails in the first three to four weeks after sowing cleaned out a large percentage of seedlings in the untreated plots, while the Ultrastrike treated plots established very well.

When the crop yield was measured six months later, the untreated seed plots averaged 8,100 kg DM/ha and the Ultrastrike treated plots averaged 15,900 kg DM/ha. The seed treatment provided a net financial return of over $1,500/ha.

Forage brassica crops play an important role in pastoral farming systems. Mitigating risks during early crop development is crucial to the success of these crops.

Investing in seed treatment products such as Ultrastrike is an important step in the process.

Tim Redfern is sales manager at Branded Products, PGG Wrightson Seeds Ltd

More like this

LDV unveils all-new Terron 9 Elite ute

As if there wasn’t enough choice in the New Zealand ute market, LDV New Zealand is expanding its offering, by showcasing the all-new Terron 9 Elite at Fieldays.

John Deere acquires Sentera to boost smart farming capabilities

While tractors combines and machinery for agriculture and construction is still its key business, John Deere appears to be taking opportunities in the hightech sector via acquisition, with the recent purchase of Sentera, a Minnesota-based company that specialises in equipment for capturing and interpreting aerial images.

Fendt 600 Vario Series arrives in NZ

Released in New Zealand earlier in the year, the new Fendt 600 Vario series, serving the 150-200hp category, is a compact and manoeuvrable 4-cylinder tractor with high performance and payload, at a low power-to-weight ratio.

Featured

Big return on a small investment

Managing director of Woolover Ltd, David Brown, has put a lot of effort into verifying what seems intuitive, that keeping newborn stock's core temperature stable pays dividends by helping them realise their full genetic potential.

Editorial: Sensible move

OPINION: The Government's decision to rule out changes to Fringe Benefit Tax (FBT) that would cost every farmer thousands of dollars annually, is sensible.

National

Machinery & Products

» Latest Print Issues Online

Milking It

Cuddling cows

OPINION: Years of floods and low food prices have driven a dairy farm in England's northeast to stop milking its…

Bikinis in cowshed

OPINION: An animal activist organisation is calling for an investigation into the use of dairy cows in sexuallly explicit content…

» Connect with Dairy News

» eNewsletter

Subscribe to our weekly newsletter