Growers are being urged to treat fields individually this season when filling in their HGCA mycotoxin risk assessments, as experts at Cereals warned of a growing fusarium risk.

Conditions so far this season have not had a big impact on risk scores as the two biggest factors are rainfall during flowering and rainfall at harvest. 

But the risk could rise with the unsettled weather plus FERA warning earlier this week that fusarium was being found at all their monitoring sites.

The late season may affect T3 applications, added Simon Oxley, senior research and knowledge transfer manager.

“Many wheat crops are behind, which means they are likely to move rapidly through the growth stages later in the season. After ear emergence, growers need to be ready to get on with the right T3 for their crops and ensure it is recorded as part of the risk assessment.”

HGCA feed, food quality and safety research and KT manager Dhan Bhandari advised against relying on one risk assessment for the whole farm.

“Cultivations and soil types will differ from field to field, as well as variety choice, so could have different ratings.

“This means that at harvest, grower can keep crops with a lower score separate from higher risk crops.”

This is because when mixing grain with different scores, the the higher risk score should be the one taken for all the grain, said Dr Oxley.

Looking ahead, HGCA is funding further research to improve the predictive risk including better weather modelling and relative humidity.

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