Biofungicides in the Spring Wheat Cultivation Practices

Abstract

The study is concerned with an assessment of the effectiveness of application of biofungicides in the spring wheat cultivation. Studies were carried out on the experimental field of the plant protection department of the Siberian Federal Research Center of Agrobiotechnologies of the Russian Academy of Sciences located in the forest-steppe zone in Novosibirsk oblast in 2019–2021. The potential for application of the microbiological formulations Trichodermin, Sporobacterin, and Fitosporin-M was investigated in terms of protection of spring wheat against diseases using the cultivar Novosibirskaya 31. The study assessed the effect of the biological formulations on the development of leaf diseases as well as on the growth processes and yield of wheat. Leaf infection development was at a moderate level. At the beginning of milk level of grain maturity, effectiveness (efficacy) against Septoria-caused disease (STB) reached 47.3% with Fitosporin-M, 67.7% with the fungicide Titul DUO, and 31.2–75.3% in combination with the seed treatment. The efficacy of seed treatment with Trichodermin, Sporobacterin, and Scarlet and crop treatment with the fungicide Titul DUO against powdery mildew ranged from 6.7 to 52.2% and from 82.6 to 95.6% against leaf rust. Treatment of planted wheat with Fitosporin-M and its combination with the seed pretreatment did not have a delaying effect on these leaf diseases. Expansion of the flag leaf area in the experiment ranged within 9.4–41.9% relative to control (11.7 cm²) and peaked in Trichodermin + Titul DUO and Sporobacterin + Titul DUO variants. Treatment of seeds and growing wheat with the formulations influenced the wheat spike structure. Combination of seed treatment and application of the biological formulations Fitosporin-M and Titul DUO to wheat plants led to an increase in spike length (by 8.1–17.9%), number of spikelets (by 6.1–14.4%) and grains (by 21.8–43.4%) per spike, and weight of grains per spike (by 28.9–61.1%). Thousand-grain weight appreciably increased by 2.7–14% in all experimental variants. Variants with Trichodermin + Titul DUO, Sporobacterin + Titul DUO, and Scarlet + Titul DUO were comparable by yield; furthermore, they ensured gain in the cereal harvest of 0.75, 0.72, and 0.8 t/ha, respectively. Treatment of wheat plants with Fitosporin-M and Titul DUO resulted in additional 0.25 and 0.66 t/ha, respectively, compared to the control (2.31 t/ha).