Growers have new fungicide to protect barley this spring

With many winter barley crops full of yield potential and drilling of the spring crop underway, in much kinder conditions, the outlook for barley this season is looking very different to last.

Adam Christie, managing director of Scottish Agronomy Limited, a farmer owned co-operative whose members grow approximately 40,000 ha of barley said:

“Winter barley crops are looking tremendous, they are not quite at the end of tillering yet but conditions have been pretty favourable.

“Last year it was all pretty unexciting, whereas this year there really is some potential in the crops.

Fulfilling potential

David Leahy, business development manager, BASF said:

“There are two halves to growing a crop of barley: creating the yield and then protecting it, and fungicides can play a key role in helping crops fulfil their yield potential.

David Leahy © BASF

“In barley, a programmed approach to crop protection is vital, because ramularia comes in on the back of other diseases or stresses in the crop.

“Growers need to understand what is driving the disease risk in the crop and how it can be managed.”

Disease risk factors to consider

• Place in rotation: What was the previous crop?
• Variety: Is there a varietal disease weakness?
• Type of establishment: Could trash lead to disease carryover?
• Drilling date: Earlier drilling can mean more disease.

A new solution for 2025

This spring, growers have an innovative new option available in the form of RevyPro, a combination of the two best azoles for barley: Revysol^® (mefentrifluconazole) and prothioconazole.

Adam notes: “Azoles are essential in the barley fungicide programme. They are the absolute bedrock of the programme and in RevyPro there is a combination of two very active azoles with slightly different spheres of activity.”

Scott Milne, agronomy specialist, BASF said: “RevyPro offers growers flexibility. It can be applied across the programme from rates of 0.75l/ha and can be relied on to deliver broad spectrum control of:

• Net blotch
• Rhynchosporium
• Ramularia
• Rusts

Scott Milne © BASF

“At T1 RevyPro gives good control of the primary diseases, to maintain tillers and create the yield,” advises David.

At T2, an application of RevyPro, will protect that yield. RevyPro can, however, only be used once per crop.

Trial results

In 2024, single application winter barley trials by Scottish Agronomy on the variety LG Mountain saw a yield uplift of 0.75 t/ha with an application of 1.0 l/ha RevyPro^®, compared to an application of Ascra^® Xpro (bixafen + fluopyram + prothioconazole) at 0.9 l/ha.

Scott Milne, BASF said: “RevyPro is approved for use on malting crops and can be used up to GS 69, flowering complete.

Further, trials conducted by Scotland’s Rural College (SRUC), on spring barley variety Laureate, showed the same trend as in the winter crop.

At T2 single application trials of RevyPro at a rate of 1.0 l/ha gave a yield uplift of 0.5 t/ha when compared to the application of 0.9 l/ha of the Ascra Xpro”, Scott commented.

Unique formulation

RevyPro has a unique formulation. Trials carried out by ADAS and BASF have shown that the unique formulation of RevyPro^® ensures the active ingredients Revysol^® and prothioconazole complement each other, to give greater control of all major barley diseases than the equivalent tank mix. 

Scott explains: “Its unique formulation can be traced back to the initial development of the isopropanol-azole Revysol, the first of its class to be introduced to the market.

“The Revysol molecule has very low water solubility and so BASF chemists had to produce a new formulation, which allowed Revysol to be taken up by the leaf very quickly.

With RevyPro we are using that unique formulation to get both the Revysol and the prothioconazole into the plant quicker.”

This quick uptake means the RevyPro ^® formulation delivers:

• Better protection from wash-off
• Better protection from UV degradation
• Quicker activation of prothioconazole within the plant resulting in enhanced disease activity

Scott added: “The fungicidal activity of prothioconazole occurs when it is broken down, through chemical reactions within the plant, into prothioconazole-desthio.

“The quick uptake of RevyPro leads to the faster production of high amounts of prothioconazole-desthio in the plant, enhancing its activity to a much higher level than other prothioconazole co-formulations.”

Upcoming decisions 

© BASF

With most growers having applied their first fertiliser to their winter barley, the next pass through the crop will be the first application of fungicide.

The T0 application will be going on before the end of the March and then three weeks after that we will be looking at T1 applications” notes Adam .

“RevyPro would be a good fit at T1 if you were on a high disease site, carrying a fair bit of disease risk. However, at Scottish Agronomy we tend to go for a more robust T2.

“RevyPro would be a pretty effective treatment at T2 protecting the yield that has been laid down, through to harvest, where we are looking at the yield robbers like Rhynchosporium and Ramularia.”

As a reminder, RevyPro^® can be used at either timing, but can only be used once in a programme.

Members of Scottish Agronomy are currently drilling their spring barley crops, Adam cautioned:

“Conditions, conditions, conditions, that is key to the spring crop; getting it drilled in the right conditions, get it right or you will regret it.

“If you get spring barley off to a good start then you very rarely struggle after that but the key is getting it up and running. Soil temperatures are still quite cold at the moment and that is not something that spring barley likes.”

Barley Agronomy Guide

In order to maximise both winter and spring barley yields it is absolutely crucial to get the basics right.

To help growers with this, BASF in collaboration with ADAS, SRUC, NIAB and Teagasc have created the Barley Agronomy Guide.

Download the Barley Agronomy Guide (PDF) or request a physical copy on the BASF website .