Robert Hurren is using a free diagnostic test to identify oilseed rape's most damaging disease in his clients' crops, allowing him to time fungicide treatments precisely.The Suffolk-based crop consultant is utilising a service called SpotCheck to assess crops for light leaf spot, the often hard-to-identify disease which can cut yields by 50% in severe cases. Oilseed rape leaves are collected every two weeks through the late autumn and winter and examined under a microscope for the first sub-clinical signs of disease."We see it as a valuable tool to time fungicides accurately as it is often a difficult disease to recognise in its early stages," he tells Farmer Weekly.
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