New fungicide offers high yields at less cost
A major new cereal fungicide which could help growers maintain high crop yields while cutting disease control costs is being launched for this season.
Cherokee from Syngenta has been purpose-designed to meet current farming needs, says brand manager Matt Pickard, in terms of robust fungicide content, effective resistance management and good value for money.
Containing high rates of two proven triazole fungicides, combined with the anti-resistance component of Bravo, it has been shown to provide comparable disease control and yield to mixtures of newer triazoles with Bravo, he points out.
However because it has been developed using existing products, there have been none of the high development costs of bringing new active ingredients to the market. So it offers excellent value for money, he adds.
"Effective disease control remains essential in cereals," explains Mr Pickard, "in order to sustain the high yields needed to drive profit.
"Strobilurin fungicides continue to have a key yield-building role by maintaining green leaf area. But the advent of Septoria tritici resistance means mixtures of triazoles with Bravo are now often the backbone to fungicide programmes against this important disease. It is precisely for this that Cherokee has been developed. It should help growers maximise disease control and yield while keeping a tight reign on fungicide costs."
Pointing to trials from around the UK, Mr Pickard says result have shown that programmes containing Cherokee have given Septoria tritici control and yields to match mixtures of the triazoles epoxiconazole or prothioconazole with Bravo. It's also given similar brown and yellow rust control to epoxiconazole with Bravo.
At one site in particular Septoria infection was reduced from almost 100% to just 9.3% where Cherokee had been applied, with resulting yield boosted to 12 t/ha. That compared with 11.9 t/ha from plots treated with a mix of epoxiconazole with Bravo, and 11.8 t/ha from plots treated with prothioconazole with Bravo.
"Historically, growers have often resorted to cutting dose rates to try and save money on triazoles," adds Mr Pickard. "But that can mean yield can suffer. With Cherokee there's no need to cut doses. Its value for money makes it easy to justify the optimum rate."
Syngenta technical manager David Ranner, who has managed the development of Cherokee agrees that it is technically robust. At the heart of its performance is the concept of triazole stacking, he says. This is the process of blending different triazoles with complementary disease control strengths and movement properties inside the leaf. It also provides high doses of both triazoles for the money, he adds.
"While the rapid movement of its cyproconazole component gets to disease inside the leaf rapidly, the slower moving propiconazole component provides a more sustained effect.
"The curative activity of these triazoles is also complemented by the protective action of its Bravo component on the leaf surface. Essentially with Cherokee growers get robust rates of two triazoles plus the anti-resistance properties of Bravo, all in one can."
Besides wheat, Mr Ranner says Cherokee provides a new option in winter and spring barley. Full approval against Septoria tritici plus yellow and brown rust in wheat is complemented by full approval against brown rust and mildew in barley. The product also has activity against Rhynchosporium and net blotch and can reduce barley spotting as part of a programme.
"Usage-wise, growers should consider Cherokee as a straightforward replacement for an existing triazole + Bravo mixture at the key spray timings of T0, T1 and T2," adds Mr Pickard.
"For Septoria-prone varieties or in high risk situations we're suggesting a dose of 1.5 l/ha of Cherokee. For more resistant varieties and low risk situations we're suggesting a slightly reduced rate of 1.25 l/ha," he adds.
