Electis – Top mainstream fungicide for control potato blight

The blight fungicide Electis, which contains zoxium® (zoxamide) and mancozeb, has one of the highest ratings for the control of Alternaria or early blight in potatoes as well as one of the best ratings for protectant activity against late blight and an acceptable rating for tuber blight.

John Edmonds, European Technical Manager for Gowan Comércio, reports that in the EuroBlight tables, Electis has a two and half star efficacy rating for Alternaria compared with a two star rating for straight mancozeb applied at its full rate of 1600 gms a.i/ha and a one star rating for fluazinam (out of a maximum three star rating). "This rating, which is assessed by a panel of independent experts, puts Electis above all other mancozeb-containing products on the market, including straight mancozeb itself. It also puts it above all other fungicides that also have activity on late blight. As Alternaria rarely appears in isolation and, as late blight or Phytophthora drives fungicide programmes, both diseases need to be targeted and tackled with a fungicide that offers proven activity on both diseases, early and late blight. As many growers in Europe can now validate through their positive field experiences, Electis has good activity on both blights,” explains John Edmonds.

To reinforce the EuroBlight fungicide assessment, John reports that Electis also has a two and half star rating, out a maximum of three stars, in the listing issued by the Dutch Crop Protection organisation (PPO), making it the best mainstream product for Alternaria.

John explains that, although Electis doesn’t have label approval for Alternaria in the UK as yet, it has full label approvals in European countries including France, Spain and Italy, where this disease is much more of a problem.

"There has been a lot more concern about Alternaria in the UK and this disease has been found in many popular susceptible potato varieties including Markies, Saturna and Estima. It is thought that Alternaria has become more significant because of the weather and because less mancozeb has been used overall within the total programme,” he says.

"Realistically applying a fungicide solely for the control of Alternaria is not practical or indeed cost-effective in the UK.  You need a fungicide that has excellent and reliable activity against both late and early blight plus proven activity on tuber blight - Electis is the only product that delivers all this,” says Mr. Edmonds.