NovaChem > Industry News > 2020 > Iblon fungicides – NZ growers first in the world to benefit

Iblon fungicides – NZ growers first in the world to benefit


Published on 17/07/2020


Recognising the expertise of Kiwi arable farmers, Bayer chose NZ to launch isoflucypram, a new SDHI fungicide. 

Isoflucypram will be available in two different products. For advisers and farmers who wish to design their own fungicide mixtures, VIMOY iblon will be the ideal choice since it is a solo formulation containing just isoflucypram. As an alternative, CALEY iblon is a co-formulation of isoflucypramand prothioconazole, and offers farmers the convenience and reassurance of an all-in-one solution.

“Certainly, the product names are a little out of the ordinary,” concedes Neil Waddingham, customer marketing manager for Bayer. “But make no mistake, these products are the best fungicides I’ve seen during 40 years of controlling arable diseases. This is especially the case for speckled leaf blotch (SLB) and leaf rust, our biggest enemies. These new formulations will really benefit farmers using them.”

Isoflucypram, ISY for short, is a new SDHI fungicide registered for use in cereals and ryegrass seed crops. ISY delivers outstanding and very long-lasting control of all major diseases of wheat, barley and ryegrass seed crops. Whether it is SLB, stripe rust or leaf rust in wheat, scald, net blotch and leaf rust in barley or stem rust in ryegrass seed crops, both VIMOY iblon and CALEY iblon will give outstanding disease control. 

Neil Waddingham says the exceptional disease control results in extremely healthy plants that stay greener for longer. This can be measured by assessing the level of chlorophyll, which has been shown to be 5% higher after using an Iblon fungicide. But the real benefit all farmers look for is higher yields and greater profits and this is where Iblon fungicides really deliver. In over 300 trials carried out by Bayer in Europe, a ISY based programme* gave on average a 2.2% higher yield. Taking a 12 tonnes per ha crop, a grain price of $380 per tonne and similar fungicide programme costs, this equates to an extra $100 per ha of profit. “That’s an impressive result by any standard!” he says. 

But the higher yields delivered by ISY don’t just result from exceptional disease control and enhanced plant health. A beneficial feature of ISY is that it is very slow moving in the leaf. Bayer scientists have harnessed this, and by using innovative formulation technology they have produced fungicides that deliver effective disease control for longer. The innovative formulation also enables very effective retention of the spray applied to the leaf, ensuring very even leaf coverage and rapid rainfastness. 

Finally, and importantly, ISY occupies its own new sub-class of the SDHI fungicide group. This is important because different subclasses of a fungicide group can behave differently when faced with disease populations showing resistance or partial resistance. This can offer the possibility of slowing down the development of resistance to fungicides. It would be very welcome news if this is the case with ISY, and Neil says Bayer is working hard to understand this in more detail. 

For more detail, contact your local Bayer regional sales manager.

*
Bayer compared 303 trials in Europe. On average, Iblon fungicide programmes yielded 2.2% higher and gave a higher yield in 83% of trials.




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