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Fungicide behaviour Bringing new crop protection products to market is no mean feat. However, there’s a constant demand to bring the next new innovation to market, which supports growers and their continuing efforts to control economically damaging diseases. Syngenta is committed to driving innovation and delivering class-leading crop protection solutions that respond to market needs. Why molecular movements matter Discovering how a fungicide behaves throws light on its efficacy in the field. CPM digs into the performance of Solatenol by following its journey from the moment it lands on a leaf. By Lucy de la Pasture These days it’s not very often a new active ingredient becomes available. This season growers have a new fungicide from Syngenta, Elatus Era, which contains the SDHI active, benzovindiflupyr (branded as Solatenol) in formulation with the azole, prothioconazole. Amongst the R&D processes at Syngenta that underpin the screening and development of active molecules, is a science that studies their behaviour from the time of application until they’re broken down in the plant –– a field known as biokinetics. Dave Bartlett, principal technical specialist at Syngenta’s Jealott’s Hill facility, leads the fungicide biokinetics team and explains what their studies have revealed, using Elatus Era to illustrate the value of this knowledge. ADAS principal research scientist, Jonathan Blake, goes on to explain how this then translates to field experience of the new fungicide. What is biokinetics? Fungicide efficacy is a well understood term in disease control but a less familiar concept to many is biokinetics. 14 crop production magazine arable extra march 2017 Part and parcel to any crop protection product’s efficacy is the journey the active molecule makes from the moment it lands on the leaf, its progress to the biochemical target site and then what happens to it thereafter. It’s an area of research that Syngenta has focussed on over the past thirty years and is known as biokinetics. Studying a molecule in this way reveals the range of properties a product possesses –– this includes leaf surface stability, rainfastness, rate of movement into the leaf and subsequent distribution that together help explain the efficacy of a product. How’s it evaluated? Biokinetic studies can quantify analytically how much fungicide moves in the plant and where and when this happens. At Syngenta, biological assays run in parallel with biokinetics, so the same leaves are used for quantitative analysis by the biokinetics team as are assessed for disease control by the biologists. It’s a hand-in-hand process that’s led to an industry-leading understanding of how a molecule can deliver disease control in the field. One of the methods used to track the journey of products through the plant is phosphor imaging, where radioactive c14-labelled fungicides are used to produce a computer image. These images are then related to the analytical and biological data which has also been collected. A further research team allows even more fine detail to be added to what’s happening within the plant when it comes to disease control. Microscopy is used to examine how diseases affect plants on a cellular level and how the fungicide is actually working on the pathogen. How does it relate to fungicides? From following every step of its journey, the team have discovered Dave Bartlett explains how the biokinetic profile of Solatenol relates to its efficacy.
“ Solatenol is the most potent of the current SDHIs. ” how Elatus Era moves from the moment it lands on the leaf. It’s important for a fungicide to remain on the leaf for long enough so the active can get into the plant, whilst also maintaining an effective preventative barrier, which means that any product losses at this Fungicide behaviour top tips ● Be aware of biokinetic properties – they have an effect on efficacy and practical issues, such as rainfastness. ● Aim to use preventatively – the biokinetic properties of Elatus Era mean it is a strong protectant and offers long-lasting control once in the plant. ● CTL boosts septoria control – so think anti-resistance and use CTL with confidence with Elatus Era. stage are undesirable attributes. Elatus Era forms a stable deposit on the surface of leaves, with excellent rainfastness and isn’t subject to UV breakdown or vapour losses so ticks the first box the team are evaluating? The fungicide then needs to reach the target site of susceptible pathogens and remain in the plant for as long as possible to maintain disease control, but not long enough to cause any Elatus Era has proven to be as least as good as other SDHIs in trials, with stand-out rust control. environmental or regulatory issues. A factor that can affect the uptake of an active molecule into the leaf is its degree of hydrophilicity or lipophilicity, which will affect the speed of movement into the waxy cuticle and then from the cuticle into the cells of the plant. The direction of flow within the plant is also important and, for a fungicide, acropetal flow (upward flow through the xylem) is desirable so movement occurs throughout the leaf and potentially to new growth. Tech Talk What has recent work shown? For Elatus Era, the movement of Solatenol within the plant means it remains distributed evenly across the leaf, accumulating within the wax layer which subsequently provides a reservoir of fungicide. This reservoir of Solatenol is maintained over a prolonged period due to its lipophilic nature, where it’s slowly metered into the cells of the leaf, inhibiting spore germination, penetration and mycelial growth. Prothioconazole moves rather more rapidly and ▲ New chemistry impresses in Shrops Doug McCowan is one of the few growers who has had the opportunity to see Elatus Era in action on the land he’s responsible for. Farm manager for Harnage Estates, where the Syngenta western platform trial site is hosted, he also looks after 505ha of cropping under a contract-farming agreement with The Newport Farm Partnership and Lord Bradford, located at Weston-under-Lizard in Shrops. “Having the Syngenta site on the farm has been of huge value to us. We get to see new varieties, as well as crop protection products in crops, on our own soil type, growing under local conditions and disease pressures. This gives us useful information and helps our own farming practices to constantly evolve,” he says. With a range of soil types from light, blowing sand to heavy clay, there’s a variety of crops grown on the farm. The majority of the farm is down to combinable crops with 61ha hybrid barley (Bazooka), 36ha spring beans (Fanfare) grown on a seed contract for local company, Wynnstay Farmers, 115ha oilseed rape (Campus, Elgar and Incentive), 122ha winter wheat for feed (Reflection) and 110ha winter wheat for milling (Crusoe). The remaining acreage produces potatoes for McCain (Royal and Maris Piper) or is permanent pasture, predominantly used for car parking for revellers at the V-festival. Doug McCowan cites septoria as his number one disease pressure, though yellow rust was very much in evidence last season in Reflection. “Reflection got some bad press last season but if you look after it, it looks and performs really well. We have a four-spray fungicide strategy so may use some Cherokee (CTL+ cyproconazole+ propiconazole) at T0 on Reflection, but there are no signs of any rust in crops so far this spring,” he says. But that doesn’t mean the yellow rust threat isn’t there and disease control is all about protection these days. T0 also gives some insurance and wiggle room at T1 if weather conditions become difficult for spraying, he comments. “Our T1 spray will include an SDHI in mixture with CTL and possibly other additions depending on the disease pressure. Last year we used an SDHI in tank-mix with CTL and azole chemistry.” Using mixes with a range of different active ingredients is something Doug McCowan believes is crucial to protect fungicide chemistry from resistance. “There’s been lots of talk about SDHI resistance and it’s not something we want to let happen so we’re making sure they’re supported by alternative groups of chemistry,” he adds. Doug McCowan has witnessed the different SDHIs side-by-side on his farm, so where is he thinking of applying Elatus Era at the all-important T2 timing this spring? “We’ll definitely be using some Elatus Era on the Reflection. It looks to be very strong on both septoria and Doug McCowan has earmarked the Reflection on his farm as the variety most likely to receive Elatus Era at T2. rusts in the trials on the farm, which have looked clean over the past two seasons,” he says. “The biggest challenge we face every year in farming is knowing what the weather is going to do, what the disease challenge will be and every season is different. But we’ve had a better winter all-round and look forward to putting the insight we’ve gained on Elatus Era into commercial practice,” he concludes. crop production magazine arable extra march 2017 15
Page 1: In this issue... Hands-free hectare
Page 4: Am I wrapped up in a bubble? There
Page 8: Disease control Decision support to
Page 11 and 12: winter and new isolates -- Blue and
Page 16: Tech Talk According to Jonathan Bla
Page 19 and 20: So do we really want varieties with
Page 22: Weed worries shouldn’t drive spri
Page 26 and 27: Weed control Colin Woodward was fac
Page 28 and 29: Liquid logic has a way with weeds I
Page 30 and 31: Innovation Insight Performance in m
Page 32: Spotlight on crop research “ The
Page 35 and 36: across the whole genome, making it
Page 37 and 38: Blackgrass Banbury blackgrass strat
Page 39 and 40: Precision agronomy helping farmers
Page 42: Precision agronomy The 40hp Iseki t
Page 45 and 46: Spring beans and OSR or spring bean
Page 47 and 48: Spring beans The crop’s given a p
Page 50 and 51: Conference grown, the weed control
Page 52 and 53: “ The domestic demand is predomin
Page 54: The new name for a farmer’s frien
Page 57 and 58: Insiders View Chris Guest notes Gra
Page 59 and 60: “ With sugar beet you’re not a
Page 62 and 63: Sugar beet weeds Weed control is on
Page 64:
Potato weed control Herbicide treat
Page 67:
Opportunity in marginal gains Over
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