The IPM Wheat Model--results of a three-year study in North Rhine-Westphalia, Lower Saxony and Schleswig-Holstein.
Under the primary utilisation of phytosanitary production factors such as selection of variety, crop rotation and N fertilisation according to plant requirements, the IPM Wheat Model comprises the elements diagnosis (qualitative = type of pathogen, quantitative = disease severity), scientifically grounded treatment thresholds which, as critical values in pathogen development, can be applied to define the optimum time of fungicide application, and pathogen-specific effective fungicides and application amounts. This leads to the location and year-specific optimised control of the pathogen and of the associated yield performance. After several years of development in Bavaria (from 1985 on) and Schleswig-Holstein (1993-1999), the model was tested as part of a project involving the Universities of Bonn and Kiel and the plant protection services of the German states of Lower Saxony, North Rhine-Westphalia and Schleswig-Holstein in a three-year study (1999-2001) in interregional locations (usually nine per state) with the winter wheat variety Ritmo (interregional indicator variety) and a further variety of regional importance in different variations (untreated control, three to four times growth stage-oriented variants for the determination of the absolute damage potential, IPM-variant). In exact records (approx. 12 dates per vegetation period), the disease epidemics were recorded weekly. With the genetically uniform indicator variety Ritmo, the results documented substantially differing year- and location-specific disease and yield patterns. Interregionally, a broad wheat pathogen spectrum (Puccinia striiformis, P. recondita, Septoria tritici, Stagonospora (syn. Septoria) nodorum, Blumeria (syn. Erysiphe) graminis, Pseudocercosporella herpotrichoides, Drechslera tritici-repentis) in differing composition, disease severity and damage effect was demonstrated. The heterogeneity of the infection and damage patterns was increased in the case of the second variety, in association with the genetic variability. The epidemiologically-orientated indications (average two, reduced application amounts) according to the IPM Wheat Model in association with time-diverging progressions led, on an interregional basis, with minimum input and in association with the diverging dynamics, to a biologically and economically optimised fungicide application. In the context of economic and ecological performance, the comprehensive results of the project demonstrated the valuable functionality of the IPM Wheat Model.
Verreet
J A
JA
Department of Phytopathology, University of Kiel, Hermann-Rodewald-Str. 9, D-24118 Kiel, Germany.
Heger
M
M
Oerke
E
E
Dehne
H W
HW
Finger
I
I
Busse
C
C
Klink
H
H
D004305:Dose-Response Relationship, Drug; D005658:Fungi / Q000187:drug effects / Q000254:growth & development*; D005659:Fungicides, Industrial / Q000494:pharmacology; D005858:Germany; D008954:Models, Biological; D010571:Pest Control / Q000379:methods*; D010935:Plant Diseases / Q000382:microbiology; D030821:Plants, Genetically Modified; D014908:Triticum / Q000254:growth & development / Q000382:microbiology*
D005659:Fungicides, Industrial