For the past three seasons the fungicide Walabi has given top class control of Botrytis as well as Ascochyta and Mycosphaerella, helping to produce top class quality combining peas, and it will continue to form the core of his disease control programme, according to Gary Cooper, agronomist for Agrovista.
"Growers in my area have grown a fair percentage of marrow fat peas and sample quality is very important. I have used Walabi in these pea crops, mainly against Botrytis, for the past three years and I have been very pleased with its performance each year. Applied at 2 l/ha early to mid flowering, most of my pea crops receive at least one treatment of Walabi as standard, usually applied with a pea moth or pea aphid spray. It is rare that they need a second spray, as the first usually does a sufficiently good job. But if it is particularly wet and disease pressure is high, you can go in with a second spray at the end of late flowering," advises Gary.
A leading pulse fungicide in France, Walabi is an effective combination of two complementary fungicides, chlorothalonil and pyrimethanil. "Growers benefit from the protectant chlorothalonil component but get more from the other active, pyrimethanil. An anilinopyrimidine with a different mode of action, pyrimethanil has protectant, translaminar and vapour phase activity throughout the crop canopy. This reflects in better all round disease control," says Jonathan Ball, BASF Peas and Beans Product Manager.
Walabi is approved for use in combining peas and field beans and demonstrates broad-spectrum protectant activity and excellent performance against all key diseases Ascochyta, Botrytis and Mycosphaerella, better than that of straight chlorothalonil, according to Jonathan.
"These three diseases 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 worth approximately an extra £200/ha," says Jonathan.
In combining peas Walabi is recommended at dose rates of 2 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. It 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 is 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, can 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 Botrytis cinerea, Ascochyta pisi, and Mycosphaerella pinodes in all varieties of combining peas. In field beans, it is approved for use against chocolate spot Botrytis cinerea/Botrytis fabae and as a protectant against early infection of bean rust Uromyces fabae. It is recommended at dose rates of between 1.5 to 2 l/ha and up to two applications can be made. Walabi has a harvest interval of 6 weeks in peas and 8 weeks in beans.
For further comment and information please contact:Jonathan Ball, BASF on 0161 488 5785 or mobile 0771 7782768
