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ACS Farmer-Driven Research Program
Contents
Summary......................................................................................................................................... 2
Introduction..................................................................................................................................... 2
Materials and Methods.................................................................................................................... 4
Results & Discussion- Corn Trial Results .................................................................................... 13
Preliminary Conclusions............................................................................................................... 17
Future Work.................................................................................................................................. 17
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ACS Farmer-Driven Research Program
Summary
Crop production advances require tools that can help plants optimize access to resources during
development. Greater resource access enables plants to reach genetic potential in multiple
environmental conditions. In 2015 farm managers in New York were introduced to fungicide
treatments that claimed to improve crop performance by improving plant resistance to pathogens
with application of materials during the corn growing season. Stratego YLD and Proline 480 SC
from Bayer Crop Science are foliar applied fungicides labeled for control of specified diseases.
The products showed promise in corn crops, wheat and soybean production and central New
York farms are interested to see how the product would perform in corn silage. Independent crop
consultants organized with Willet Dairy, LLC to collaboratively design and implement a fully
replicated trial that would quantify the impact of Stratego YLD and Proline 480 used alone and
also used together use on the 2015 corn silage crop. The results of the 2015 Bayer treatments on
the corn silage trial at Willet Dairy did not identify a significant yield or quality response
compared to untreated corn silage. The corn silage yield between the two test plot sites (283,
286) were found to be significantly different so any statistical conclusions can only be made at
the field level. For field 283, with 95% confidence the yield from the untreated corn will yield
17.3 Ton/ac, the Stratego VT will yield 17.9 Tons/ac, Stratego V6 and Proline VT together will
be 17.9 Tons/ac, Stratego V6 is 16.2 Tons/ac and Proline VT will be 17.9 Tons/Ac. For field
286, with 95% confidence the yield from the untreated corn will yield 18.3 Tons/ac, the Stratego
VT will yield 18.3 Tons/ac, Stratego V6 and Proline VT together will be 17.0 Tons/ac, Stratego
V6 is 19.0 Tons/ac and Proline VT will be 18.1 Tons/Ac. A mycotoxin lab analysis was
completed for each treatment at the field level. In both fields and all sprayed treatments
mycotoxins were found to be below detectable limits. Mycotoxins were detected in the control
treatments at 0.5 ppm of vomitoxin in field 283 and 2.6 ppm vomitoxin and 0.5 ppm 15 acetyl-
DON in field 286. The control treatment did not receive any fungicides.
Figure 1: Bayer Crop Science fungicides Proline VT and Stratego YLD treatments used
during the 2015 Farmer Driven Research trials.
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Introduction
Starting in the 2013 crop season Northern Corn Leaf Blight (NCLB) and to a lesser extent Gray
Leaf Spot have established themselves in New York as the primary plant disease affecting the
yield and quality of corn silage. Soils inoculated with the NCLB spores were encouraged by
unseasonably wet growing seasons and a large number of acres planted to susceptible corn
varieties. The result is that the disease has had a major economic impact on the susceptible low-
lignin Brown Mid Rib (BMR) corn varieties popular with the high producing dairy farms of
Central New York. Crop production teams are introduced to new products and management
techniques every year and are looking for solutions that provide a return on investment. Impartial
research is hard to find and managers are faced with making a decision to invest in the product
based on company trial reports or trial and error or simple check-strip comparison trials. Recent
adoption of precision monitoring equipment in agriculture has reduced the cost of implementing
statistically sound, replicated research at a field scale. With their own equipment doing much of
the monitoring and data collection, crop teams can afford to implement statistically sound
research on their own fields. Willet Dairy, LLC decided to conduct their own research trials after
being introduced to new fungicide treatments for NCLB management in BMR corn silage. The
purpose of this Farmer Driven Research is to demonstrate the potential plant health, yield
enhancements, and feed quality in corn silage with growers and market influencers. Proline 480
SC is a 41% Prothioconazole fungicide labeled for the control of NCLB at a 5.7 fluid oz per acre
use rate. Stratego YLD is a 32.3% Trifloxystrobin, and 10.8% Prothioconazole fungicide labeled
for the control of NCLB at a 4-5 fluid ounce use rate. This report compiles the results of Bayer
product research trials using various applications of Stratego YLD and Proline 480 SC
implemented in corn silage fields at Willet Dairy, LLC during the 2015 growing season.
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Materials and Methods
Research plot location
The 2015 Bayer fungicide corn trials were led by Willet
Dairy located in Locke, New York. The plots were
planted in Southern Cayuga County in the Town of
Genoa. All test plots fields were planted over two days.
Treatments on Corn
For investigating the use of Stratego and Proline on corn, the research program was designed to
identify a response to the fungicides effect on corn yields and corn silage quality. Corn silage
yields are gathered by the John Deere yield monitor and forage analysis was completed by Dairy
One. Mycotoxin analyses were completed by Trilogy Analytical Laboratories.
The 2015 trials on corn silage investigated five treatments; (1) Control treatment with no
fungicide applied, (2) V6-V9 application of Stratego at 4 oz/ac. (3) Full Tassel application of
Stratego at 5 oz/ac. (4) Full Tassel application of Proline 480 at 5.7 oz/ac (5) V6- V9 application
of Stratego at 4 oz/ac followed by a full tassel application of Proline 480 at 5.7 oz/ac. There
Figure 2: Finger Lakes Agronomics makes VT applications on August 13, 2015.
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were 4 replications of each of the five treatments in both fields. Fields 283 and 286 were both
planted on May 23rd
with Mycogen seed variety F2F627.
Prior to the first application of fungicide on July 17th
the twenty plots were flagged in the fields
and general observations were made about overall plant stand quality and consistency. At this
time it was determined that field 283 expressed poor stand development in the middle of the field
due to poor drainage. A decision was made to establish a gap in the field between replication #2
and replication #3 in an attempt to avoid drainage influencing the yield effect of the treatments.
Field 286 was a much more consistently even corn field throughout the growing season.
One July 17th
Helena Chemical made the first Stratego applications while corn varied between
V6 and V9. At this stage corn leaf blades were showing no signs of North Corn Leaf Blight or
any other plant diseases. The full tassel application of Stratego and Proline were made August
13th
by Finger Lakes Agronomics. At the time of the full tassel all plot replications were
showing 0-1 Northern Corn Leaf Blight lesions per 50 plants. Plant disease was generally very
low in both fields at full tassel.
Chris Becker from BAAR Scientific LLC conducted an evaluation of diseases at both fields on
September 21st
. Chris rated Northern Corn Leaf Blight, Eyespot and Greening in field 286 and
Northern Corn Leaf Blight and Greening in field 283.
Other observations of the test plots were completed using an Unmanned Aerial Vehicle working
with visible light, Infrared and the Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI). An
Integrated Pest Management approach of walking a random pattern in all plots was also
conducted at Full Tassel to tally plants infected with NCLB.
At harvest the yield monitor was calibrated and fields were chopped with yield data and moisture
recorded according to the treatment indicated on the flag. Forage analysis was also collected at
the time of silage harvest.
#1 #2 #3 #4 #5 #6 #7 #8 #9 #10 #11 #12 #13 #14 #15 #16 #17 #18 #19 #20
Rep #1 Rep #2 Rep #3 Rep #4
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Untreated
Statego YLD @ V6
Statego YLD @ VT
Proline 480 SC @ VT
Statego YLD @ V6 + Proline 480 SC @ VT
The research plots were located in two fields at Willet Dairy using a random block design. Head
lands are excluded from the test plot as much as possible. A portion of the headlands of field 286
was necessary to be included to complete all four replications. Plot widths were 60’ wide to
accommodate a 60’ wide spray rig and 20’ corn planter.
Figure 4: Field 283 at Willet Dairy.
Figure 3: Schematic Plot Layout.
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Figure 5: Field 286 at Willet Dairy.
Field Fertility Program
Field 283 had a 15,000 gallon per acre fall manure application, 10 gallons of 30% N at planting,
25 gallons of 30% N with the herbicide application and a sidedress N application of 75lbs. The
total available fertility of the nutrients applied to field 283 was 232-95-262. Field 286 received
12,400 gallons per acre spring manure, 10 gallons of 30% N at planting and a sidedress
application of 75lbs nitrogen. The total available fertility of nutrients applied to field 286 was
238-30-186.
Foliar Plot Evaluation
Dr. Chris Becker from BAAR Scientific conducted a visual assessment of all plots on
September, 21st
documenting the percent of leaf area with lesions of NCLB and Eyespot. Chris
also conducted greening ratings using a 0-10 scale where a 10 would indicate the maximum
foliage remaining.
Figure 6: results from foliar plot evaluation
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Field imagery for corn plots
Using an Unmanned Aerial Vehicle ACS partnered with Agrinetix to fly the test plot fields and
take images of them in the visible spectrum and using the Normalized Difference Vegetation
Index (NDVI). The first flight was on September 1st
and another flight was requested as close to
plant harvest as possible with this second flight happening on September 25th
.
Figure 7: field 283 visible light 9/1/15 Figure 8: field 283 visible light 9/25/15
Figure 9: field 283 NDVI 9/1/15 Figure 10: field 283 NDVI 9/25/15
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Figure 11: field 286 visible light 9/1/15 Figure 12: field 286 visible light 9/25/15
Figure 13: field 286 NDVI 9/1/15 Figure 14: field 286 NDVI 9/25/15
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Weather Conditions and Implications
The 2015 season was characterized by extremely high rainfall throughout the season (Figure 14).
The above-average rainfall caused flooding of corn fields in the early season slowing corn
growth for a number of weeks.
Figure 15: Rainfall for the 2015 season was characterized by frequent high intensity rain events
that accumulated more than average rainfall amounts.
Plot Measurements
Yield and moisture for corn were measured by the harvest monitoring equipment in 2015 corn
plots. Initially there were 40 test plots that were laid out and 38 of those plots were used to
determine results. Treatments #6 and #7 were missing from the test plot in field 283 and not
included in yield or quality measurements. Yield monitors on each field measured total wet tons
harvested, area harvested and percent moisture every 1 second. The chopper operator was
responsible for the average wet tons harvested for the designated plot area. ACS was responsible
for verification of test plots identification and collection of the one gallon forage sample for
quality analysis.
0
2
4
6
8
10
12
Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep
MonthlyRainfallforAuburn,NY
(inches)
1981-2010
2012
2013
2014
2015
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Upon completion of the harvest of the test plots ACS pulls the digital yield data from the yield
monitor for further processing. Further analysis involves looking at each individually recorded
measurement by the chopper which were taken every two seconds and removing points with
measurement errors (measurements of zero moisture or zero yield). Next the data points are
averaged or “bundled” across 40 foot intervals (3-4 individual measurements). These data
bundles are then analyzed across the whole plot and outliers that are more than 2x the standard
deviation are removed. The resulting plot average and standard deviation from the remaining
data bundles are used for the statistical analysis.
Silage quality was measured based on one gallon grab samples of silage taken from 38 plots at
the time of harvest. Each silage sample was analyzed by Dairy One for a basic forage sample
which included percent moisture, crude protein (CP), starch, neutral detergent fiber (NDF),
phosphorus (P), IVTD24hrs, IVTD48hrs. These parameters were used to indicate silage quality.
Forage quality analysis was also completed to detect for the presence of different toxins in each
treatment. To accomplish this a sub-sample of each treatment for fields 283 and 286 were
collected and a total of 10 samples submitted to Trilogy Analytical Laboratories for mycotoxin
analyses.
Table 1: Results of the Mycotoxin Analysis.
Fiel
d Treatment
Aflatoxi
n B1
ppb
Aflatoxi
n B2
ppb
Aflatoxi
n G1
ppb
Aflatoxi
n G2
ppb
Vomitox
in ppm
T-2
pp
m
Zearaleo
ne ppm
15-
Acet
yl
DON
ppm
3-
Acet
yl
DON
ppm
283
Stratego
V6 ND ND ND ND ND ND ND ND ND
283 Untreated ND ND ND ND 0.5 ND ND ND ND
283 Proline VT ND ND ND ND ND ND ND ND ND
283
Stratego
VT ND ND ND ND ND ND ND ND ND
283 Stratego
V6 &
Proline VT ND ND ND ND ND ND ND ND ND
286
Stratego
V6 ND ND ND ND ND ND ND ND ND
286 Untreated ND ND ND ND 2.6 ND ND 0.5 ND
286 Proline VT ND ND ND ND ND ND ND ND ND
286
Stratego
VT ND ND ND ND ND ND ND ND ND
286 Stratego
V6 &
Proline VT ND ND ND ND ND ND ND ND ND
*ND = None Detected
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All plots, with the exception of mycotoxins, were measured for each parameter and analyzed for
statistical differences by Cornell University Statistical Consulting Unit. A mixed model was used
for analysis with ‘field’ and ‘treatment’ and “field x treatment” as fixed effects and ‘block-
within-field’ as a random effect.
On-Farm Field Day
A field day was conducted to demonstrate to farms how the research was being conducted and to
raise awareness about the research and the project. The Bayer plant disease programs were
discussed and the field day provided an opportunity to share experiences and information among
farm management teams on all aspects of on-farm research in general.
Observations were made in the test plot for the presence of plant disease versus the treatments
and there was also much discussion of the Unmanned Aerial Vehicle imagery in the visible
spectrum and the Normalized Difference Vegetation Index and how it could be used to make
decisions about fungicide use..
Figure 16: Observations made during the FDR field day on 9/8/15.
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Results & Discussion
Yield 2015 analysis
Yield was measured across 20 plots. There was no significant difference in yield or forage
quality between the Bayer treatments and the untreated check. Field 283 displayed high
variability for yield while field 286 was more uniform.
Figure 17: field 283 yield results
Figure 18: field 286 yield results
5.0
10.0
15.0
20.0
25.0
Rep 1 Rep 2 Rep 3 Rep 4
Site: Field 283
Untreated
Stratego V6
Stratego VT
Proline VT
Stratego V6 & Proline VT
5.0
10.0
15.0
20.0
25.0
Rep 1 Rep 2 Rep 3 Rep 4
Site: Field 286
Untreated
Stratego V6
Stratego VT
Proline VT
Stratego V6 & Proline VT
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Figure 19: 2015 combined yield (tons per acre adjusted to 35% moisture) was not found to vary
by treatment. There was a significant different in yield between field 283 & 286 created in part
by the variability displayed above in field 283 versus field 286.
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Preliminary Conclusions
• 2015 Farmer Driven Research results in silage corn in Central New York did not show
statistically significant treatment differences when treated with various Bayer fungicide
treatments.
• 2015 Farmer Driven Research measured presence of mycotoxins in control plots that did
not receive fungicides but did not measure any mycotoxins in any of the treated plots.
• Agronomic research standards are 3 years of research in yield and forage quality trials. At
least two more years of research is needed in corn silage to draw final conclusion about
the impact of Bayer Fungicides as a foliar treatment for corn silage fields in New York.
Future Work
Additional work in corn silage would follow the same protocol as used in 2015.
Summary of requirements a farm would need in order to participate in future farmer-driven
research plots:
• An eagerness to participate in farmer-driven research to explore improved crop yields and
forage quality.
• A commitment to getting the best data possible from the research trials put on the farm.
and a commitment to communicating with ACS research managers and farm personnel to
gather good results from the research.
• Yield monitor for corn.
• Planting of corn hybrids that are susceptible to NCLB.
