University News
Herbicide Plot Tour
June 8, 2007
MACOMB, IL -- A new enemy is stalking the crop this spring, experts say. Armyworms crept up through southwest Oklahoma and are migrating their way east. Area producers can learn more about armyworms, along with numerous other topics, at the Western Illinois University department of agriculture's annual Herbicide Field Plot Tour Thursday, June 28.
The field day will begin at 1 p.m. at the WIU Agronomy Field Laboratory on Ember Road, located immediately north of the WIU Harry Mussatto Golf Course on Tower Road. The event is open free to the public.
According to Gordon Roskamp, WIU agriculture professor and field plot coordinator, topics to be discussed include:
• "Glyphosate-resistant waterhemp" by Kevin Bradley, an extension weed scientist.
• "Bioherbicides Marketed in Europe and Japan" with Daljit Singh, a graduate student from Purdue University. Singh, along with Professor Steve Hallet, established plots with a fungus that controls pigweed (and waterhemp) species at Western.
• "Post-emergence and Soil-Applied Herbicides to Control Volunteer Roundup-Ready Corn in Soybeans" by Mike Roegge, Adams County crops educator.
• "Foliar Fungicides in the Midwest" with Paul Vassalotti of BASF, the world's leading chemical company.
• "Asian Soybean Rust" by Loretta Ortiz-Ribbing, pathologist and extension specialist in the Macomb Extension Office. Sentinel plots have been established at the WIU University Farm.
• "Pioneer Hibreds Research Investments" with Shawn Jones, an area agronomist.
• "Armyworm Threats in Western Illinois" with Matt Montgomery, a crops educator for Menard and Sangamon counties.
Other topics include an update on the sale of carbon by Terry Davis and invasive weeds by Roskamp.
Ken Nimrick, WIU associate agriculture professor, will also be on hand to discuss his 200 cow/calf herd that does not consume hay, while Fred Iutzi, WIU Alternative Crops Program research agronomist, will discuss crops that hold biofuel potential. Joel Gruver, assistant professor of agriculture and director of Western's pesticide-free research program, will talk about the new farm bill and Western's organic crops program.
Twenty weed control experiments have been established in strip-till and mulch-till at the Agronomy Field Lab. Various herbicides were applied in the fall, early pre-plant, pre-emergence, and post-emergence. Essentially all of the current weed control programs, both one-pass and two-pass, are on display in fields with relatively heavy weed pressure, Roskamp added.
Company sales and product-development representatives will be on hand with the latest information on pest control strategies to maximize profits.
For more information contact Roskamp at 309/298-1569 or the WIU agriculture department at 309/298-1080.
Posted By: Darcie Shinberger (U-Communications@wiu.edu)
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