Cereals 2016 : Syngenta to launch powerful SDHI fungicide for wheat in UK

Syngenta recently revealed at the Cereals event (16 June) that it hopes to launch a new SDHI fungicide for wheat in 2017 which is claimed to give outstanding rust and very good septoria disease control.

The company is hopeful this new SDHI, solatenol, will be on UK farms next spring pending UK regulatory approval, and it is claimed to give a yield advantage of 0.3t/ha over current market leading SDHIs.

Jason Tatnell, the group’s technical manager for cereal fungicides in northern Europe, says the new SDHI will be partnered by the azole prothioconazole, whereas its existing Keystone product uses the SDHI isopyram and azole epoxiconazole.

 “This is an extremely active SDHI and we have high hopes for it in the UK as it give outstanding rust control and very good septoria control,” he says.

When applied to a wheat crop, the new SDHI fungicide give good coverage of plant leaves and helps to maintain green leaf area for longer than other SDHIs when applied at the flag-leaf stage.

Key difference

“The key difference with this SDHI is the long duration of disease control and the green leaf area benefits which lead to the yield increase,” Mr Tatnell adds.

The group has partnered the SDHI with prothioconazole as it believes this azole has a better chance of not falling foul to the regulators compared with epoxiconazole if pesticide rules covering azoles are tightened.

The new solatenol-prothioconazole product will be targeted at the flag-leaf T2 fungicide timing, with the group’s Keystone SDHI-azole combination focused on the T1 timing.

Solatenol is approved in a number of American markets, including Brazil and the US, and is now awaiting approval in key European markets such as France and Germany as well as the UK.

The group is also preparing to launch the first SDHI seed dressing for wheat using a different SDHI, sedaxane, which offers good control of seedborne and soilborne diseases.

This SDHI is set to be used in combination with other fungicides with different modes of action, and could be available this autumn or autumn 2017 depending on regulatory approval.