On the march against mildew
Mildewicides used to be thin on the ground – not any more.
With the addition of Certis’ cyflufenamid last May and the recent approval of DuPont’s proquinazid there is no shortage of fungicides designed specifically to tackle cereal mildew.
New products for mildew control are always welcome, says TAG’s Stuart Knight. Mildew can develop resistance quickly to actives, meaning the performance of those products declining.
Along with other recent mildewicides, such as BASF’s Flexity, the new products are setting the standard for duration of protectant activity, giving up to 6-8 weeks’ protection at full dose.
“While less-than-full doses are likely to be used in practice, when mixed or sequenced with other products, these are still giving very good protection compared with morpholines.”
Targeting mildew in cereals remains tricky, says Mr Knight.
Yield responses do not always accompany control, and at best are only up to 10%, compared with 50-100+% for other diseases.
“The most effective products we have are best used relatively early (T0-T1).
At the T0 timing in particular there may be significant mildew present, but a change in the weather can eliminate this without the need for a specific treatment.”
