An eco-friendly way to protect wheat seeds from phytopathogens

Protecting wheat seed from phytopathogens is a popular topic for plant breeders. The objects requiring close attention and control on wheat are smut infections, pathogens of root rot. And if the pathogens of smut we have learned to fight quite effectively with, then microorganisms that infect underground parts of plants are controlled with less success and many questions in the system of protection against them remain controversial. The issue of reducing the pesticide load on agrocenoses, starting with the protection of seeds, also remains relevant. The article presents the results of field trials of means of protecting spring wheat seeds from root rot in 2019–2020, carried out within the framework of the state assignment at the Kurgan SRIA — branch of FSBSI UrFASRC, according to generally accepted methods. The aim of the research was to assess the biological, economic efficiency of the combined use of a chemical seed dressing agent and a biofungicide based on Bacillus subtilis in protecting wheat from soil-seed infections, to determine the competitiveness of an ecologized method of protecting seeds (reduced consumption rate of a chemical seed dressing agent in combination with biological fungicide). The obtained research results indicate that with a high level of damage to wheat by root rot (Fusarium, B. sorokiniana), the use of seed treatment with the studied preparations ensured the preservation of 10–12% of the yield, more efficiency was noted in the variants with the Oplot 0.5 l/t and the Oplot 0.3 l/t + Nodix Premium 0.3 l/t . The technical effectiveness of fungicides against wheat root rot ranged 44% for Nodix Premium to 85–86% for chemical protection and mixed use. An environmentally friendly method of protecting wheat seeds, which consists in using a 40% lower rate of a chemical dressing agent with a biopesticide, turned out to be competitive.