Troubleshooting issues with canola crop establishment isn’t always a straightforward process. The causes of some issues and necessary solutions are not always clear at first.
Elders Agronomist Benjamin Romeo (right) at Syngenta Learning Centre, Parkes with Syngenta Territory Sales Manager Alec Duffy (left).
Elders Agronomist Benjamin Romeo handled a challenging case with corporate farmers at Canowindra in the central-west of New South Wales, where everything initially pointed to slugs. An extensive baiting program in 2023 did help, but questions remained when Benjamin continued to find cotyledon damage and seedling losses.
Meanwhile, Syngenta were carrying out development trials nationally for a new canola seed treatment. This not for slugs, but for a range of early season chewing and sucking insect pests. Benjamin took the opportunity to attend one of these trials at a nearby Syngenta Learning Centre. The trial was run by Syngenta Technical Services Lead Pete Wilson, and happened to feature EQUENTO® Extreme Seed Treatment.
“In 2023 I looked at Pete’s canola trials, which included EQUENTO® Extreme,” Benjaminsaid. “EQUENTO® Extreme was a standout.”
“My ears pricked up. I sent a message straight to the corporate manager, ‘we should order this on the seed next year’.
Inspired by the trial visit, Benjamin revisited the challenge on his client’s Canowindra farm, confirming paddock plans for 2024 to include EQUENTO® Extreme treated canola seed.
Come seeding time, two canola hybrids were planted in paddocks separated by a laneway. On one side was the new Pioneer PY421C treated with the seed treatments EQUENTO® Extreme insecticide and SALTRO® Duo fungicide. On the other side was the hybrid 44Y94CL, which had an older seed treatment option applied. The perfect opportunity for comparison.
The EQUENTO® Extreme treated seed was planted into cereal stubble, from the previous year, while the other variety was planted into faba bean stubble. Insect pests including slaters and millipedes were observed in both paddocks.
Benjamin said that slugs were considered to be the main issue in previous years but noted that other pests such as slaters and millipedes were subsequently found to be major causes of seedling mortality too.
“It took us a little while to figure it out. A lot of digging around in the stubble and in the mud and that’s what we found,” Benjamin said.
EQUENTO® Extreme controls red legged earth mite and blue oat mite, while also providing protection from bronze field beetle, vegetable beetle, slaters and millipedes.
"The main benefit of EQUENTO Extreme was protecting the seedlings early in the establishment phase and ensuring survival of as many plants as possible."
“It is really from cotyledon to first true leaf is where we’ve had issues, where we were losing plant numbers.
“Once the plants start powering on and you’re getting to two, three and four leaves, the slaters and millipedes won’t [damage] it. Yes, we can still get pressure from slugs but the crop is able to outgrow it.”
Compared to the canola seed treated with EQUENTO® Extreme, Benjamin said the other side of the laneway wasn’t looking as good where plant numbers were thinning out.
“We are sowing canola at 2.7 kilograms per hectare and aiming for 30 plants per square metre. We were finding paddocks that were only hitting 26 to 28 plants per square metre.
“As I went across those paddocks I’d come to areas where there were definitely low plant numbers.”
The situation was much improved in the paddocks with canola seed treated with EQUENTO® Extreme, which offered protection against feeding damage and seedling mortality.
“In those high-pressure paddocks, on thick cereal stubbles and stubbles from two years prior, we were consistently getting 32 to 34 plants,” Benjamin said.
“You could see it visually across the paddock and the biggest thing for us was, ‘hey, this works’.
“This is an insurance policy, it’s very wet country. Sometimes we can’t get into the paddocks when the crop is younger during establishment, so if this can save even one [post-emergent] pass then the seed treatment pays for itself.”
He said they were ordering all 2025 canola seed treated with EQUENTO® Extreme, based on the success this season with its ability to control a wider range of pests.
“It’s a large program of canola and we are under time constraints to get the crop in. Let’s do it all once and just go from one paddock to the next.”
This article was written by Syngenta for Seasons magazine.
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