Seed production of common bent (Agrostis capillaris) as affected by insecticides and plant growth regulators
Titel:
Seed production of common bent (Agrostis capillaris) as affected by insecticides and plant growth regulators
Auteur:
Aamlid, T. S. Andersen, A. Skuterud, R. Jonassen, G. H.
Verschenen in:
Acta agriculturae Scandinavica. Section B, Soil and plant science
Paginering:
Jaargang 57 (2007) nr. 1 pagina's 45-52
Jaar:
2007
Inhoud:
The application of insecticides and/or chemical growth regulators for the control of arthropod-induced silvertop (whitetop) and/or lodging in seed crops of common bent (syn. browntop, US: colonial bentgrass, Agrostis capillaris L. syn. A.tenuis Sibth.) 'Leikvin' was investigated in 12 on-farm trials laid out according to five different experimental plans in SE Norway from 1993 to 1997. Seed yields on plots sprayed with insecticides were significantly higher than on unsprayed control plots in three out of nine trials; however, these seed yield increases were poorly correlated with silvertop frequencies which varied from 1 to 60% on untreated plots. Differences between various insecticides (two pyrethroids and one organophosphorus compound) and single versus split applications were mostly not significant. While seed yields on plots sprayed with ethephone ('Cerone', 0.5 kg a.i. ha-1) were not significantly different from those on unsprayed control plots, chlormequat chloride ('CCC 750', 1.0 or 2.0 kg a.i. ha-1 plus surfactant) minimized lodging and increased seed yield by 21% on average for five trials. When chlormequat chloride and the pyrethroid α-cypermethrin were combined in a tank mixture including surfactant at the crop growth stage Z 31-32, the effects of the two products were mostly additive. Based on these results, the application of the growth regulator chlormequat chloride (1.0 kg a.i. ha-1) is now recommended in Norwegian seed production of common bent. Although the effects of insecticides were often not significant, seed growers are further advised to add an insecticide (e.g., α-cypermethrin, 150 g a.i. ha-1) to the growth regulator as a precaution against silvertop, which otherwise seems to appear quite randomly in seed production of common bent.