b'SCOTT BARRSEEDGROWTH SPECIALIST, BAYER CANADAscott.barr@bayer.com @AltabarrScottbayer.caSARAH FOSTER Dont Gamble onPRESIDENT AND SENIOR SEED ANALYST Seed Qualitysarah@2020seedlabs.ca @Sarah2020labs AT THE AG IN MOTION show in Saskatchewan 2020seedlabs.caback in July, I was surprised by the amount of barley growers who told me they were having smut trouble. Smut is a seed-borne disease that is very insidious; the best defence is seed testing and applying a good Analyzing Mother Naturesseed treatment. It was a great reminder that using both good seed and a seed treatment Quality Curve-Ballsis crucialand 2019 was a good example of why.Why did so many growers not use a A QUICK VISIT to look at a farmers field turned out to be veryseed treatment on their barley and other worthwhile. An agronomist I am not, but an analyst I am! Ivecereal crops this year? We started the been around enough to know what some of the plant symptomsseason with an early spring, and the snow will amount to for seed quality in 2020. left quick. Because spring arrived so soon, The 2019 harvest is over. Once again, our attention turns to thesome growers felt there was no point to year that was and what surprises Mother Nature has in store for ususing a seed treatment.as far as yield and quality for 2020 go. Lots of people were anxious to get in Driving around Alberta I noted some fields of particular inter- the field and seed, but the ground was still est. I walked a pea field and on first observation the field was incoolseeding into cool soil presents a big various stages of maturity. The plants ranged from very brown tochallenge for a seedling.bright green. I was allowed to pull several plants as the growerThings began to get very dry and many suspected root rot and some other problem with mold in thegrowers sought to cut costs, and unfor-pods.tunately, seed treatment was one of the These I took back to the lab and our disease diagnosticianfirst things to get crossed off their list. It confirmed Ascochyta blight caused by Ascochyta/Mycosphaerellashouldnt have beenthere are other species. ways to manage inputs that dont require These disease symptoms are most certainly associated with wetyou to put seed health at risk from a trinity conditions and were heightened to a certain extent by hail damageof threatsseed-borne disease, soil-borne earlier on. The result: lower yield. Wet conditions affected the rootdisease and insect pressure.development which made the pea plants lay down, so combiningThen Mother Nature threw a curve ball. was tricky and risked further damage such as cracking, leading toThe rain didnt come until June and in mechanical damage and abnormal seedlings in the germination. some cases July. The same issues affected soybeans in some areas of Manitoba.Growers who didnt use a seed treat-Mother Nature threw a curve-ball in late September when majorment suffered the consequences. rainstorms hit the southern part of the province, leaving fieldsAs we get closer to 2020, its key to waterlogged just when growers would normally be out harvesting.remember to get your seed tested to you Soybeans often came off too wet causing swollen beans, whichknow what youre dealing with and stick to increases the likelihood of mechanical damage and causes internalyour seed treatment program. fractures in the embryos, which leads to issues with germination. Dont let an early spring or other All of this field information is so useful for a preliminaryanomalies fool you into not protecting your report and helps germination analysts later understand the resultsseedits your most fundamental input through accessing field history. We certainly cannot visit everyand is the beginning of your entire seasons field, but these insights allow us to prepare for the upcomingproduction.season.44GERMINATION.CA NOVEMBER 2019'