New fungicide from Bayer shows potential

By Siobhán Walsh

As the chemical tools in plant protection reduce and others inevitably lose effectiveness over time it is important to keep an eye on what’s coming down the tracks.

In early July, AgriLand visited some of Bayer Crop Science’s field trials in Co. Cork to take a look at new chemistry which is in trial for the company and all going to plan will be available in approximately two years time, subject to making it through the registration process with the Pesticide Registration and Control Division.

Tillage farmers are constantly hearing about the chemistry which is leaving the market. So it is important to remember that there is new chemistry coming down the line.

AgriLand looked at spring barley and winter wheat plots which were trialing a new active – Isoflucypram. Isoflucypram is a member of the SDHI group of chemistry, but has its own subclass within that group.

The active ingredient was first registered in New Zealand in September 2019 and was available for use in the country for the 2019/2020 season.

The new active is part of what Bayer calls ‘Iblon’ technology which it claims delivers excellent disease control and healthy plants, which ultimately delivers high yields.

Spring Barley

The spring barley was trialed in a crop of Quench in Co. Cork and given just one spray at GS37. The pictures of the plots below were taken in early July.

To put things into perspective the first picture below shows an untreated plot of barley and the levels of disease present.

Looking at the new chemistry, the crop was clean and showed a really good green colour. Even in a low disease pressure year, like 2020, the difference was noticeable when comparing the crop to other treatments.

The picture below shows a plot treated with the new Iblon chemistry, along with Proline.

To give readers something to compare to the picture below shows Macfare (Bixafen 65g/L + Fluopyram 65g/L + Prothioconazole 150g/L) at a rate of 1.2L/ha, which looks very clean itself, but there were visible differences from the new chemistry.

Another common fungicide that growers may have used this season is Boogie (Bixafen 50g/L + Spiroxamine 250g/L + Prothioconazole 100g/L) at a rate of 1.5L/ha which is pictured below.

A treatment commonly used by growers is Siltra and the picture below shows a plot treated with Siltra at a rate of 1L/ha.

Winter Wheat

The product was tested on a crop of Lumos winter wheat. The crop received two sprays – a T1 of Prosaro (Prothioconazole 125g/L + Tebuconazole 125g/L) and Phoenix (Folpet 500g/L) and a T2 which varied between the plots.

It’s important to remember that this is a trial situation used to test the products, so no T0 or T3 were applied and therefore the plots are not comparable with a commercial crop of winter wheat.

The first picture below shows an untreated plot.

The picture below shows Iblon chemistry, fluopyram and prothioconazole applied at T2.