Root Health is Key to Improving Yield

Root Health is Key to Improving Yield

I’m KayDee Gilkey with the Northwest Farm and Ranch Report.

Because they are out of sight, often plant roots are out of mind. Many of plants problems began as soil/root problems. Most plants’ roots are under attack by pathogens. The effect of such organisms usually goes unnoticed until the end of the season when growers are faced with often significant crop damage and yield losses.

Chad Shelton, Syngenta’s Asset Brand Manager for Seed Care Products, speaks to the importance of root health for wheat to maximize the genetic yield.

Shelton: “Our whole concept around root health is trying to start very early with the right seed treatments that promote disease control that create a strong foundation for proliferation of root mass. Once we do that, then everything that the grower does beyond that to manage a healthy plant will go along with that.”

So what is Syngenta offering to wheat growers?

Shelton: “The main thing that Syngenta is doing is we are going to bringing sedaxane on with an already market leader and that is Dividend Extreme. So we will be combing the active ingredients sedaxane, which is a new mode of action, with Dividend Extreme with two active ingredients difenoconazole and metalaxyl-m. We will be bringing to the market place a three way active ingredient seed treatment to promote the control of fusarium, rhizoctonia and pythium which will ultimately produce a better, healthier root system and creating a plant to build a foundation for growers.”

I’m KayDee Gilkey with the Northwest Farm and Ranch Report on the Northwest Ag Information Network.