Dafeng Strengthens Wheat Scab Prevention to Safeguard Summer Grain Harvest

“The early flowering stage of wheat is the optimal window for the first round of prevention and control; an interval of 5 to 7 days later, concentrated secondary supplementary prevention should be carried out during the full flowering period,” noted agricultural technicians in Dafeng District, Yancheng City, Jiangsu Province. Faced with a high incidence trend of wheat scab this year, the agricultural and rural departments in Dafeng have fully deployed and implemented secondary prevention measures, refined prevention processes and consolidated prevention responsibilities to ensure the unwavering implementation of two rounds of wheat scab prevention and control.

It is reported that Dafeng District is confronting three major pressures in wheat scab prevention this year. Adverse climatic conditions, with higher-than-average temperatures and increased rainy days in April, have kept the fields in a state of prolonged high humidity, which is highly conducive to the spread of wheat scab—a fungal disease caused by Fusarium graminearum that can lead to significant yield losses and toxin contamination if not controlled effectively. Additionally, the high base of pathogen inoculum in the fields, with a high rate of infected perithecia, poses a considerable risk of disease outbreak. Coupled with the uneven growth of wheat seedlings, the flowering period of wheat is irregular, extending the susceptible window and further increasing the difficulty of prevention and control.

“The pesticides for the first round of prevention are fully funded by the finance. The district has coordinated 7.02 million yuan of central special funds to purchase 60.59 tons of high-efficiency toxin-reducing pesticides, all of which were freely distributed to grain farmers by April 17,” introduced Zhang Yu, deputy director of Dafeng District Plant Protection Station. More than 80% of the wheat in the district is managed by large-scale growers who have strong awareness of prevention and control. Many of them have conducted a third round of prevention based on actual field conditions in addition to the required two rounds. For special groups such as migrant workers and elderly people living alone, village-level organizations have taken the initiative to provide pesticide application services on their behalf, ensuring full-coverage prevention without missing a single household or field.

Since April 15, Dafeng District Bureau of Agriculture and Rural Affairs has selected 15 agricultural technology backbones to implement a “one person responsible for one town” supervision mechanism. These technicians have been deployed to the front line to carry out publicity and guidance on the “secondary prevention and control”, strictly supervise the standardized distribution of pesticides and the effective implementation of prevention measures, and achieve full technical service coverage for more than 400 large-scale growers with over 50 mu of wheat each.

To improve prevention efficiency, Dafeng District has fully mobilized the strength of socialized service organizations, investing more than 1,500 modern plant protection equipment such as plant protection drones and self-propelled boom sprayers to vigorously promote unified prevention and control, realizing large-scale and standardized pesticide application. “Now most large-scale growers are equipped with their own drones, and the efficiency of mechanized prevention is more than 10 times higher than that of traditional manual work,” Zhang Yu said. At present, the progress of the second round of wheat scab prevention and control in the district has exceeded 70%, which is in line with expectations.

It is understood that the wheat planting area in Dafeng District this year is 889,400 mu, an increase of 5,000 mu compared with last year. By implementing the strategy of “unwavering two rounds of prevention and control, and a third round if necessary”, it is estimated that more than 1.8 million mu-times of prevention and control tasks will be completed, minimizing the harm of wheat scab. Currently, the proportion of first and second-class wheat seedlings in the district reaches 95%, an increase of 1.1 percentage points over the previous year, steadily consolidating the safety line for summer grain harvest. This initiative is also in line with the guidelines of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, which emphasizes scientific prevention and control of wheat scab to ensure stable grain production.