Australia: New seed treatment from Bayer SeedGrowth gets thumbs up from graders

Seed graders across the country gave the thumbs up to trial applications last season of the new broad spectrum fungicidal seed treatment, EverGol® Energy, which is expected to be registered in 2018.

EverGol Energy combines the proven disease control strengths of penflufen with the systemic activity of prothioconazole and metalaxyl. It is set to offer control or suppression of a range of diseases in wheat, barley, oats and triticale, including flag smut (seed and soil borne), loose smut, covered smut, common bunt, rhizoctonia, pythium, crown rot, fusarium head blight and white grain disorder. Anticipated registration for in-furrow application will add crown rot and pythium suppression in wheat, triticale, barley and oats.


Nick Moses, Broadacre and SeedGrowth Brand Manager with Bayer, said the company recognised the importance of working with seed graders to check the quality of products and their application through seed treating equipment, as well as to assess their performance in paddock demonstrations.

“It’s excellent to get feedback from practical situations that can help to further improve formulations," Nick said.

Clay Townrow, who operates Townrow Quality Seed Grading Service with his father, Jeff, at Moama on the New South Wales and Victorian border, said a trial of EverGol Energy on barley seed showed very good flowability and it adhered to the seed well with good, even coverage.

“It’s very important to get flowability as well as good, consistent coverage, so that every seed has the benefit of the seed treatment," Clay said.

“Evergol Energy performed very well “Evergol Energy performed very well in that regard.
The coverage was fantastic. We found that with varying water rates, it still had very good coverage on the seed.

“It stuck to the seed well, there weren’t any dust-off issues and
we didn’t have any build-up on application equipment augers."

He said EverGol Energy had strong market potential, particularly with its anticipated registration claim for crown rot suppression.

“More customers are asking about seed treatments for crown rot, so I think it has a good future."


In Western Australia near Boyanup, Rob Bell, Bell Pasture Seeds, which has one of the more modern cleaning works with a Noroguard seed treater, the only one of its kind in WA that can do multi-level applications, and robotic packaging, said flowability and coverage were critical.

“If you can’t get the coverage, then it’s a waste of time," Rob said.
He said EverGol Energy with Gaucho® was trialled on barley and oat seed.

“We applied it in a slurry with water of 6 litres per tonne. We can go up to 20 L/t with this treater because we get very good dry-down with a gas-heated drying bed. We get excellent coverage and can dry down. The more volume, the more coverage. It’s better than three times the coverage from 6 L/t.

“The EverGol Energy provided excellent coverage and it wasn’t powdery or dusty. We didn’t use Inteco oil with it, like we have done with EverGol Prime."

On the Liverpool Plains in northern NSW, Rob Jeffery, Jeffery Seed Grading, agreed that flowability and consistency of coverage were primary aims.

Rob said a trial of EverGol Energy through his grading plant went really well, with good flow and coverage.

“It seemed to go on the seed with not as much water applied and the coverage was really good that way.”

He also expected EverGol Energy would be popular with local farmers due to the significant crown rot problem in the area.

“I can see it having a big impact for the cropping region in the New England and Liverpool Plains because it (the disease) is very prevalent around here at the moment."

Bayer Commercial Sales Representative in the region, Greg Hunt, agreed, expecting strong interest in EverGol Energy to combat crown rot in not only bread wheats, but also particularly in durum wheat.

“Farmers do a lot in terms of rotating their crops, field hygiene and variety selection to ensure they minimise the effect of this disease,
but with the addition of EverGol Energy, it will give them an additional tool to be able to combat this disease when they plant their crop in the ground," Greg said.

An application for registration of EverGol Energy has been made. At the time of publication, this product is not registered.