WHEAT growers have been urged to maintain top disease protection in the face of heavy rainfall across the UK this week as, if they do not, yield and quality-robbing diseases could seriously eat into profits.

There was a danger that the earlier dry weather had lulled some growers into a false sense of security, said Paul Varney, campaign manager for Syngenta.

"Although many farmers have already applied a T3 or ear fungicide, quite a lot decided not to bother," he said. "However, with high rainfall comes high disease pressure, and potentially large losses in quality and yield."

With three weeks to go until the start of harvest, and with flag leaf fungicides applied five weeks ago providing about four weeks' protection, Mr Varney says that, where growers can still apply a strobilurin fungicide, the persistence of an Amistar-based T3 spray could be key.

"Wheat ears alone can contribute up to 20pc to yield, and maintaining healthy green leaf area at the end of the season can boost crop output by 0.15-0.2 tonnes per hectare per day."

As well as protecting ears against the wet weather diseases of microdochium, sooty moulds, and septoria nodorum, he said an Amistar plus tebuconazole or metconazole mix would top-up disease protection on the flag leaf.