Corteva Agriscience launches multiple new seed treatments for corn and canola in Canada

Corteva Agriscience announced the expansion of its seed treatment portfolio with the introduction of two new seed treatment packages, containing multiple new products, available for corn and canola farmers across Canada for the 2023 growing season.

″It takes years of evaluation to bring a new product to market and this year, we are proud to be launching two new LumiGEN^® seed treatment packages for Canadian canola and corn farmers,″ says Travis Schoonbaert, Seed Applied Technologies Category Leader, Corteva Agriscience.

Canadian canola growers will receive improved disease control with Corteva’s new LumiGEN seed treatments canola fungicide package. The package contains four effective modes of action for broad spectrum disease protection, including Lumiscend™ fungicide seed treatment, a unique new active ingredient for powerful airborne blackleg protection. Lumiscend translocates through seedlings to inhibit the growth of the blackleg fungus, protecting the crop from emergence through the critical infection period. Estimates indicate approximately 55 per cent of Western Canadian canola acres¹ are affected with blackleg, which has been estimated to account for an average yield loss of 9.67 per cent².

Lumiscend will work alongside Lumiderm to provide canola growers with broad spectrum insect and disease control.

″When used alongside the exceptional blackleg resistant canola genetics available from Brevant^® seeds and Pioneer^® brands, this new LumiGEN seed treatment disease protection package is expected to provide industry-leading blackleg protection to canola farmers across Western Canada,″ says Kirsten Ratzlaff, Product Manager for Seed Applied Technology, Corteva Agriscience. ″Similar to Lumiderm™ insecticide seed treatment, this fungicide package has shown excellent early season seedling stand establishment, vigour and biomass.″

For Canadian corn growers, Corteva’s new LumiGEN seed treatment corn package introduces two new products – Lumialza™ nematicide seed treatment and Lumiscend Pro fungicide seed treatment. Lumialza is a biological seed treatment and the first corn nematicide seed treatment launched in Canada, building on the successful experience of U.S. growers. Lumialza provides more than 80 days of root protection against a wide range of nematodes, including sting, needle, lance, stubby-root, root-knot, dagger and lesion.

″Although nematodes are impossible to detect with the naked eye, they can have a devastating effect on yield. In addition to nematode protection, the new corn disease package contains four effective modes of action for broad spectrum disease protection against pythium, rhizoctonia, fusarium and corn head smut. Lumiscend Pro is a component of this package designed and tested to provide a new level of protection against rhizoctonia and pythium species,″ continues Ratzlaff.

The new LumiGEN seed treatment packages are exclusively available on Brevant seeds and Pioneer brand genetics. Part of a vast pipeline of innovative seed treatments coming to Canada, Corteva Agriscience Seed Applied Technologies is focused on discovering and developing premium products that help enable each seed’s genetic potential and increase farmer productivity.

¹ https://www.saskatchewan.ca/business/agriculture-natural-resources-and-industry/agribusiness-farmers-and-ranchers/crops-and-irrigation/disease/blackleg-of-canola
² at disease severity of 2/5 and 25% incidence https://www.canolacouncil.org/calculator/blackleg-loss