Bayer CropScience Debuts Serenade Optimum

Bayer CropScience introduced Serenade® Optimum fungicide and bactericide, its newest innovation for horticulture growers, during the 39th Annual CAPCA Conference. An excellent addition to a complex disease management program, Serenade Optimum gives growers a new tool to help win the battle against fungal and bacterial diseases while fighting resistance.

“As a global market leader in crop protection, we continuously invest in innovations for new technologies that improve the health, quality and yield of horticulture crops,” said Rob Schrick, Strategic Business Management Lead – Horticulture, Bayer CropScience. “With the addition of Serenade Optimum, we further our commitment to delivering innovative solutions that aid growers in producing quality crops.”

Based on a unique patented strain of Bacillus subtilis (QST 713), Serenade Optimum works in multiple ways to provide effective contact control or suppression of problematic fungal and bacterial diseases. The fungicide’s novel, multi-site mode-of-action makes it very difficult for diseases to develop resistance, empowering growers with a new tool to combat fungicide resistance and enhance existing integrated disease management programs.

Serenade Optimum has a four-hour re-entry internal, a zero-day pre-harvest interval, and is exempt from the requirements of residue tolerance. It is part of a collection of biological fungicides and insecticides from Bayer CropScience that give growers more options in their integrated disease management programs to help fight resistance and optimize the marketability of their crops.

Serenade Optimum is available for use on grapes, leafy and fruiting vegetables, strawberries and potatoes, and is highly effective against fungal diseases, such as Botrytis and Sclerotinia, and bacterial diseases, such as Xanthomonas and Erwinia.