Be alert to Ramularia appearing in this year’s spring barley crops after the stressful dry start to the season and the potential for additional crop stress effects, Syngenta disease expert, Jason Tatnell, is urging.

According to Mr Tatnell, 2025 started kinder than 2024 in terms of spring barley drillings – with early-drilled crops going into well-prepared, moist seedbeds and showing promising yield potential. But looking ahead, he says there could be a significant risk from Ramularia.

“We know that Ramularia starts to show itself in infected plants when crops are subjected to stress factors,” explains Mr Tatnell. “We’ve already had several of these – including strong sunlight, lack of rain, and potentially reduced uptake of nutrients.

“The arrival of rainfall, while welcome for crop potential, adds a further stress factor – due to sudden nitrogen uptake from the newly-wet soil and a spurt of growth that the crop isn’t prepared for. This could further exacerbate Ramularia problems. And rain will also increase later-season threats from other diseases, such as Rhynchosporium and net blotch,” he adds.

Because late-season diseases, including Ramularia, affect grain-filling, they not only reduce yields but can also lead to increased screenings or small grains, which is important to remember if targeting markets where grain quality is important, Mr Tatnell notes.

“With limited fungicide options available against Ramularia, it’s important to choose treatments carefully,” he says.

“As well as excellent activity on Rhynchosporium and net blotch, the twin-pack fungicide of Miravis Plus + Era, which was launched last year, has repeatedly been shown to be phenomenally strong against Ramularia. So it offers a fantastic all-round fungicide for barley. Indeed, a Miravis-based treatment has been shown to not only substantially boost yield, but also reduce screenings and improve gross margin in malting barley in a Ramularia situation.

“On the other hand, if dry conditions return or remain, we know that Miravis Era has shown a strong physiological benefit on the crop – reducing water usage per unit of growth, allowing it to use scarce water resources better, and helping to develop yield by keeping leaves green for longer.”