New fungicide for quality soft fruit
A novel new fungicide from Syngenta is set to provide soft-fruit growers with new standards in broad-spectrum disease control and the opportunity to enhance shelf-life with improved fruit quality - for the benefit of retailers and consumers.
The new product - currently code-named A9219B in trials and the registration process - is hoped to be available for growers this season. A9219B contains two exciting new active ingredients fludioxonil and cyprodinil. Trials have shown the combination provides long lasting protection on the leaf surface, along with systemic movement within the plant to target disease.
A9219B has been submitted for registration for use on protected and outdoor strawberries, vining peas and green beans. Syngenta plans to make further submissions for applications in a range of other soft fruit and vegetable crops. The fungicide is already one of the leading tools for soft fruit growers in many countries around the world.
Trials have shown A9129B gives excellent control of Botrytis and Blackspot in strawberries, along with additional protection against Powdery Mildew. In vegetable crops the broad-spectrum of activity includes Botrytis, Sclerotinia, Ascochyta and Alternaria.
Furthermore, shelf life trials in Spain have demonstrated good activity against storage decay diseases. Following two pre-harvest applications of A9219B, at seven day intervals, picked fruit remained in perfect condition after a week stored at room temperature, when other fungicide treatments had effectively broken down and rendered fruit unacceptable. After 12 days, fruit from the A9219B treatment was still in saleable condition, when other treatments would have been long consigned to waste.
Introducing A9219B trial results to UK soft fruit growers this week (26 April 2006), Syngenta Specialty Crops Manager, Bruce McKenzie, said: "This new fungicide will enable fruit growers to further improve the quality and shelf life of strawberries, soft fruit and other fresh produce, for the benefit of their customers."
Mr McKenzie highlights soft fruit consumption in the UK is an exciting arena and growing rapidly, with consumer expenditure increasing by over £140 million in 2005, as part of an annual £1.1 billion spend reported by Worldpanel™ consumer trends survey.
"The value share of strawberries alone increased by 16%. For UK growers to gain their share of the market increase they have to be able to provide consumers with satisfaction from consistently high quality, great tasting fruit, and the benefit of longer refrigerator life. Improved disease control in the field could also help UK growers secure a longer picking season and extend summer sales."
