2022
Evaluating ROI of disease management practices (Year 1)
Contributor/Checkoff:
Category:
Sustainable Production
Keywords:
Economic studies
Parent Project:
This is the first year of this project.
Lead Principal Investigator:
Carl Bradley, University of Kentucky
Co-Principal Investigators:
Project Code:
02-025-022
Contributing Organization (Checkoff):
Institution Funded:
Brief Project Summary:
Diseases are one of the main yield-limiting factors of soybean production that farmers must contend with every year. In Kentucky, estimated annual losses due to diseases over the last 5 years have averaged over 7.2 million bushels of soybeans, which has an approximate annual value of nearly $68 million. To protect against yield losses caused by diseases, soybean farmers often actively manage these diseases by utilizing inputs such as fungicide and nematicide seed treatments and foliar fungicides. This research project seeks to evaluate the return on investment (ROI) of different soybean disease management practices in Kentucky by evaluating a combination of fungicide and nematicide seed...
Unique Keywords:
#disease management, return on investment (roi), fungicide, nematicide, seed treatment, frogeye leaf , #economics
Information And Results
Project Summary

Diseases are one of the main yield-limiting factors of soybean production that farmers must contend with every year. In Kentucky, estimated annual losses due to diseases over the last 5 years have averaged over 7.2 million bushels of soybeans, which has an approximate annual value of nearly $68 million. To protect against yield losses caused by diseases, soybean farmers often actively manage these diseases by utilizing inputs such as fungicide and nematicide seed treatments and foliar fungicides. This research project seeks to evaluate the return on investment (ROI) of different soybean disease management practices in Kentucky by evaluating a combination of fungicide and nematicide seed treatments and foliar fungicides in field trials across different locations in Kentucky. This project fits the Kentucky Soybean Board’s research priority, “Reducing the cost of producing soybeans”. The results of our research will provide Kentucky soybean farmers with information that they can use to help determine which disease management practices are helping to increase ROI, and which disease management practices are not increasing ROI.

Project Objectives

To determine which soybean disease management practices have the greatest return on investment (ROI) in Kentucky.

Project Deliverables

The deliverables include: an economic analysis of return on investment of disease management practices based on field research trials conducted in Kentucky and presentation of the results of the research to Kentucky farmers at winter meetings and field days.

Progress Of Work

Final Project Results

Diseases are one of the main yield-limiting factors of soybean production that farmers must contend with every year. In Kentucky, estimated annual losses due to diseases over the last 5 years have averaged over 7.2 million bushels of soybeans, which has an approximate value of nearly $68 million. To protect against yield losses caused by diseases, soybean farmers actively manage these diseases by utilizing inputs such as fungicide and nematicide seed treatments and foliar fungicides. In some cases, utilizing these disease management inputs will result into a greater return on investment (ROI), while in other cases, these inputs may just be an added cost that does not result into increased yields or ROI. Field research trials were established at the University of Kentucky Research & Education Center (UKREC) near Princeton and at the Western Kentucky University Farm near Bowling Green in 2021 to evaluate the effect of different disease management practices on soybean yield and economic benefit. The experiment evaluated different seed-applied treatments and foliar-applied fungicides. Seed treatments included untreated seed, a fungicide + insecticide treatment (CruiserMaxx Vibrance), and the fungicide + insecticide treatment with a nematicide/sudden death syndrome treatment added (CruiserMaxx Vibrance + Saltro). Foliar-applied treatments included a non-treated check, a fungicide that contained “off-patent” active ingredients (azoxystrobin + propiconazole), and a “premium” fungicide (Miravis Top). Foliar fungicides were applied at the R3 growth stage (beginning pod stage). At each location, plant emergence, disease severity, and yield data were collected from each replicated treatment combination. An economic analysis was conducted using the yield responses relative to the non-treated check (no seed treatment, no foliar fungicide treatment), and the associated retail prices and application costs of the applied products and a soybean marketing price of $12.70 per bushel. The data were statistically analyzed using specialized software to evaluate for significant differences at a 95% confidence level. No statistically significant differences among treatments were observed, but some of the numerical differences were interesting. Overall, average yields were very high for all treatments (>90 bushels/acre) (Figure 1). Regardless of seed treatment utilized, the numerically highest yield achieved was with the “premium” foliar fungicide (Figure 1). Similarly, the numerically highest net economic benefits were achieved when the “premium” foliar fungicide was applied (Figure 1). It is important to note that the results reported here are from only one growing season at two locations. To be able to make broader conclusions, this research needs to be repeated across additional growing seasons and locations to better account for the effect of different environments and geographies. Understanding the disease risk for individual soybean fields by knowing the susceptibility of varieties being planted, accounting for rotating crops vs. continuous soybean, testing soil for soybean cyst nematode egg populations, and actively scouting for diseases during the season will help provide the best information that can be used to make soybean disease management decisions.

Benefit To Soybean Farmers

Kentucky soybean farmers will be able to use the results of this research to help determine which disease management practices most consistently deliver a positive return on investment, and which disease management practices do not. Ultimately, this information will help Kentucky soybean farmers reduce the cost of producing soybeans and increase profitability on their own farm.

The United Soybean Research Retention policy will display final reports with the project once completed but working files will be purged after three years. And financial information after seven years. All pertinent information is in the final report or if you want more information, please contact the project lead at your state soybean organization or principal investigator listed on the project.