Zhongshan Chemical Group granted first penflufen technical registration in China among Chinese enterprises

Recently, Inner Mongolia Zhonggao Chemical Co., Ltd, a Zhejiang Zhongshan Chemical Group subsidiary, was granted the first registration of penflufen technical in China after Bayer. 

Penflufen is mainly used as a seed-treating agent, a systemic, preventive, and curative SDHI inhibitor.

Penflufen is an SDHI inhibitor that blocks energy metabolism by acting on the respiratory chain electron transport complex II. After treatment, the seeds absorb active ingredients during germination and transport them to other parts of the plant body via the xylem, thus protecting the crop.

As a seed treating agent, penflufen is used in potato, corn, rice, cotton, wheat, barley, alfalfa, vegetable, bean, and rapeseed to prevent and control seed-borne and soil-borne basidiomycetes and ascomycetes. Rhizoctonia and ustizeanin are the two major bacteria of basidiomycetes and ascomycetes, which are harmful to crops, where the diseases caused include potato black mole, wheat sheath blight, loose smut of wheat, common bunt of wheat, rice sheath blight, rape sclerotinia rot of colza, corn head smut and southern leaf blight of corn.

At present, in terms of penflufen formulations, Bayer’s penflufen 22.4% SC seed treating agent is the only registered product, as approved for controlling wheat sheath blight, corn head smut and potato black mole.

World-wide penflufen registrations 

Seed treating effect of penflufen against seed-borne and soil-borne diseases

Seed-borne and soil-borne diseases are harmful, invisible and difficult to control. Therefore, using a seed coating agent to treat seed-borne and soil-borne diseases is critical to preventing and controlling the diseases. As a promising seed-treating agent, penflufen is expected to become a dark horse in the seed-coating market thanks to its excellent control effect, good mixability, and broad-spectrum properties which surpass the performance of other products and may become a substitute for common seed-treating agents like seed ipconazole, difenoconazole, fludioxonil, and tebuconazole.

In addition, the mixtures of penflufen with the highly-efficient fungicidal trifloxystrobin, prothioconazole and tebuconazolefor for sprayed control of crop diseases are expected to be relapsed to market before long. As penflufen performs seed treatment prominently and can soon be used for spraying, also with its localized production and popularization, this outstanding seed-treating agent is expected to stimulate and motivate more enterprises to file for product registrations, which will lead to an extension of the scope of application and improvement of the market position of penflufen.