New guidelines for growers – including a 12-point summary action plan – have been issued by the HGCA, providing the latest information on managing take-all.

The guide brings together all of HGCA’s research into the disease, which it is estimated affects half of the UK’s wheat crops and costs farming up to £60m a year. It includes analysis of the factors influencing take-all, as well as management options.

Managing take-all should begin much sooner than simply in the year the wheat crop is being grown, according to HGCA research director Graham Jellis. For example, while a one-year break will normally control take-all in a following crop, it does not eliminate the fungus, he says.

“Where the preceding crop suffered a lot of disease, significant inoculum can persist through the break.”

Undermine effectiveness

Cereal volunteers and grass weeds can also undermine the effectiveness of a break. Rothamsted research suggests the take-all index – a combination of incidence and severity – in first wheats nearly doubles where cereal volunteers are left uncontrolled compared with early removal in oilseed rape crops.

The same applies to set-aside. Destroying green cover as soon as permitted helps reduce the risk of take-all in first wheats, the guide says.

For further information and to download a copy of the guidelines visit www.hgca.com