With issues of availability of straight chlorothalonil in the market place this season, BASF are advising pea and bean growers to look at the fungicide Walabi as a technical step-up and as the natural successor to straight chlorothalonil.
The leading pulse fungicide in France, Walabi is an effective combination of two complementary active ingredients, chlorothalonil and pyrimethanil. "Growers benefit from the protectant chlorothalonil component and get a whole lot more from the addition of the other active, pyrimethanil. From a different fungicide group, the anilinopyrimidines, and with a different mode of action, pyrimethanil has protectant, translaminar and vapour-phase activity throughout the canopy. This reflects in better all round disease control," says John Young, BASF Peas and Beans Product Manager.
Walabi is approved for use in combining peas and field beans and demonstrates excellent performance and broad-spectrum protectant activity against the key diseases. "In trials, Walabi has demonstrated robust control of Ascochyta, Botrytis and Mycosphaerella, and has given superior control compared to a high dose-rate of straight chlorothalonil. Mycosphaerella pinodes, Ascochyta pisi and Botrytis cinerea all affect the yield and quality of combining peas, reducing yields by as much as 30%. A series of ten Ascochyta trials demonstrated this yield penalty with a treatment of Walabi giving an extra yield of 0.84 t/ha over the untreated," says John.
In combining peas Walabi is recommended at a dose rate of 1.5-2.0 l/ha and can be applied to any variety. It should be used preventatively as the first (T1) spray at early flowering or first pod stage, before diseases become active.
A second spray can be applied towards the end of flowering, providing there is a two-week interval between the treatments. The T2 spray will be needed if extended protection is required in wet weather or high-risk conditions. Walabi can be tank-mixed with a range of insecticides, including Contest, for the combined control of pea pests and diseases.
In winter and spring field beans Walabi can be used as a preventative treatment against Chocolate spot at early flowering, in low to moderate disease situations. A T2 spray at mid to late flowering, 3 to 4 weeks after the T1 treatment, should be applied if an extended period of disease protection is required.
Walabi contains 150 g/l pyrimethanil and 375 g/l chlorothalonil formulated as a suspension concentrate. It is approved as a protectant treatment against Ascochyta pisi, Botrytis cinerea and Mycosphaerella pinodes in all varieties of combining peas. In field beans, it is approved for use against Chocolate spot and as a protectant against early infection of rust. It is recommended at dose rates of between 1.5 to 2.0 l/ha and up to two applications can be made. Walabi has a harvest interval of 6 weeks in combining peas and 8 weeks in field beans.