Reduction in IFT

Reducing the use of plant protection products, IFT, etc...

Reduction of IFTReducing the use of plant protection products, IFT, etc...

1. Themes
2. Reduction in IFT

TheIFT (Indicateur de Fréquence Traitements) is at the heart of the agro-ecological transition. Reducing the use of plant protection products is a major challenge, and can be achieved through a number of levers, such as the choice of disease- or pest-resistant species, changes to ITK or even biocontrol. These levers differ depending on the type of crop protection product, whether herbicide, insecticide or fungicide.

Choice of species and rotation

Resistant varieties

The use of resistant varieties to one or more diseases means less need for insecticides or fungicides.

Variety selection has also focused on resistance to lodging, the barley yellow dwarf virus caused by aphids, and orange midge, thereby limiting the use of regulators and insecticides in vegetation, and therefore the IFT.

The choice of resistant species must be adapted to the risk present in the plots.

Rotation

Diversifying species in rotation breaks the cycle of diseases and pests, thereby limiting their proliferation. In addition, a diversity of species also means a diversity of plant protection products used and therefore less resistance to these products.

ITK

Optimising spraying

• Low volume.
• Use ofadjuvants.
• Application conditions.

Working the soil

Stubble ploughing buries stubble and straw residues to speed up their decomposition. Result : less moisture and fewer food resources for pests, especially slugs. Burying crop residues also inhibits the development of diseases such as fusarium head blight.

Shifting sowing dates :

Shifting the sowing date has an effect on aphid and leafhopper pressure. Young cereals will be entering their sensitive phase at a time when conditions are often unfavourable for insects. As a result : a reduced risk ofDwarf Yellow Dwarf Disease in barley.

Combine plant natural defence stimulators

Plant natural def ences stimulators can be used on their own or in combination with plant protection products.

Agroecology

• Increases biodiversity and therefore the presence of natural enemies.
• Crops are combined with cover crops or companion plants, which helps to "dilute" insect attacks, but also strengthens crops through allelopathy, so they are stronger in the fight against disease(pH-redox balance = fewer pathogen attacks).
• Grazing/de-sprouting : cleans up the plots (fungi, slugs, insects) and strengthens the crops.
• ...

Choice of product and OAD

Rationalising the use of seed treatments

Due to the development of resistance, certain chemical families can only be applied once per season : it may be wise not to treat seeds as a preventive measure and to use the product later in the season.

To avoid unnecessarily increasing the IFT balance, it is better to use seed treatments that are technically justified. Fungicide and insecticide seed treatments must be taken into account when calculating the IFT. For a plot of land, if the entire seed lot is treated, the IFT is equivalent to 1. If only part of the plot is treated, as may be the case with a mixture of varieties or species, the IFT is proportional : for example, it will be 0.5 if only half has received protection.

Choosing effective products based on resistance

Choose the right products depending on the risk, and alternate modes of action and families to avoid resistance. There are recommendations, particularly for fungicide control :

• On wheat as on barley, limit the use of the SDHI (Succinate DesHydrogenase Inhibitors) family to a single application per season.
• On wheat, in view of the progression of multiple resistances, only intervene if strictly necessary and, if possible, maintain a multisite fungicide in the programme(sulphur, folpel).
• On barley, to avoid further selection of strains with multiple resistance, theuse of a three-way QoI+SDHI+IDM mixture should be strictly limited to situations where helminthosporiosis is very difficult to control.

OAD

Decision support tools are essential for optimising fungicide and insecticide crop protection. In fact, effective protection requires preventive action against a disease. This is where a predictive model comes into its own: based on agronomic data for the plot (variety, soil type, sowing date) and the weather from sowing onwards, it monitors the risk of contamination in real time, well before symptoms appear. In the event of an alert, targeted observations during field tours confirm or deny the development of the disease.

Ex : Geofolia, PositifAGRI.

Combining biocontrol

Micro-organisms, natural substances and chemical mediators, like plant protection products, require marketing authorisation. If they are used, these three categories must be included in a specific biocontrol IFT balance sheet, for notification purposes. This account is not included in the farm's overall IFT. These solutions can be used alone or in combination with a crop protection product. In combination, they are often an opportunity to reduce the dose of the conventional product, and therefore lower the IFT, without losing treatment effectiveness.