Objectives
The objectives are to demonstrate the response of flax to fungicide applications at three locations in Saskatchewan and to evaluate fungicide interactions with row spacing at Indian Head and nitrogen fertilizer rate at Melfort and Yorkton.
Project Description
Field trials were conducted at Indian Head in 2015 to demonstrate row spacing and fungicide effects and interactions with flax. The treatments were a combination of five row-spacings (25-61 cm) and two fungicide (treated vs untreated) levels. At Yorkton and Melville field trials in 2015 were conducted to demonstrate nitrogen rate (30 to 150 lbs/ac) and fungicide effects with flax. Increasing row spacing at Indian Head reduced emergence; however, plant populations were considered sufficient for all row spacing treatments. Increasing row spacing also delayed maturity but by less than 1 day within the practical range of 25-41 cm. Yields declined with increasing row spacing. Flax at 25 cm yielded higher than all other treatments and yields continued to decline as spacing was incrementally increased. No interactions between fungicide and row spacing or fungicide and nitrogen rate were detected at any location. At the 5% level of significance, the application of fungicide did not significantly affect maturity or yield. However, there was a trend for applied fungicide to increase yield by 9 and 5% at Yorkton and Melville, respectively. There was also a trend for the application of fungicide to delay maturity of flax by 5 days at Yorkton. Increasing nitrogen rates from 30 to 150 lbs/ac increased yield by 23% at Yorkton and by 55% at Melfort. Yield continued to increase substantially up to a 150 lbs/ac at Melfort but tended to level off around 90 to 120 lbs/ac at Yorkton. Increasing nitrogen rates substantially delayed maturity at Yorkton but not Melfort. High rates of nitrogen are known to delay maturity, but these effects were likely accentuated Yorkton as increasing rates of nitrogen tended to decreased plant populations.
