Forward crops and resistance concerns influence fungicide sprays
5th March 2026
As growers and agronomists weigh up fungicide plans for the coming spring, a number of factors will need to be considered.
Well-established plants have seen strong canopy development and, in some parts of the country, are well ahead of where they have been in recent seasons. Forward crops with large canopies create favourable conditions for disease development. There is also the evolving threat of resistance to some widely used chemistry which needs to be managed.
Off the back of two underwhelming harvests, input cost control will be front of mind when purchasing fungicides, too.
Craig Chisholm, field technical manager for Corteva Agriscience, says: “Many wheat crops were drilled earlier than in recent seasons, with some now running 10–14 days ahead of the past two years. As a result, canopy development has accelerated, bringing forward disease risk and increasing pressure from septoria at an early stage.”
Mark Fletcher, head of agronomy services at Niab, adds: “That microclimate being created in the canopy will mean disease is bubbling underneath.”
Growers and agronomists are being urged to take an approach that balances performance, resistance management and value.
Resistance to key active ingredients is no longer a theoretical issue. Performance from some SDHI and azole products is under increasing pressure, and programmes built around a narrow range of chemistry are becoming harder to sustain.
Corteva says that following best practice advice on resistance management is essential. Mixing modes of action and rotating chemistry between timings should be a fundamental consideration when planning programmes in the coming weeks, Craig says.
This covers the requirements of resistance management without necessarily adding cost or compromising performance on this year’s crop, he adds.
“We believe that having a unique site of action, such as that found in Univoq, is essential if we
want to prolong the life of all the tools available to us,” he said.
Univoq has become a core component of septoria control for many growers. It contains the Inatreq active, which has a unique site of action and no known cross resistance. Optimised in a co-formulation with prothioconazole, it provides rapid uptake, strong rainfastness and extended protection against septoria and rusts.
Univoq at 1.25-litres/ha at T2 has delivered consistent performance across wet and dry seasons since launch. It is also being used with confidence at T1 where disease pressure has demanded its strength.
For more information visit the company website.
