Effect of the Timing of Fungicide Application on Yield and Quality Parameters of Wheat Infected with Fusarium Crown Rot Disease

Abstract

Fusarium culmorum crown rot (FCR) is a chronic and important pathogen affecting the cereal industry through grain yield and quality losses. In this study, the effects of epoxiconazole plus prochloraz application and several other applications on disease severity and grain quality parameters (thousand-grain weight (TGW), grain yield (GY), protein (GP), Zeleny sedimentation (ZS), wet gluten (WG) and Grain ındex (GI)), and the effects of changes on the efficacy of epoxyconazole plus prochloraz, were determined in the T1 (ZGS25), T2 (ZGS34), and T3 (ZGS45) growth stages of winter wheat with seven alternative spray programs for epoxyconazole plus prochloraz. These programs were based on the application (SF) or non-application (non-SF) of seed fungicide to infected seeds and the growth stages of wheat. The interaction between seed fungicide applied and fungicide application time was significant (p≤0.01) for DS, ZS, and WG. The effectiveness regarding the disease severity, TGW, and GY of epoxyconazole plus prochloraz in relation to FCR wheat showed significant (p≤0.01) changes depending on the application time. The disease severity resulted in lower T1-T2 (9.66%) and T1-T2-T3 (9.91%) stages than the other stages. The highest yields were obtained when the fungicide was applied twice at the T1-T2 stages. DS/TGW and DS/GY were negatively correlated and TGW/GY was positively correlated in SF.