BASF announced the full U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) registration of Priaxor and Merivon fungicides. Company leaders hope to build on the successes of its current fungicide portfolio with these introductions.
Priaxor for Soybeans
Priaxor is a 2:1 premix fungicide containing F500 (the same active ingredient as Headline fungicide) and Xemium fungicide, a new active ingredient in the carboxamide family, providing a new mode of action for soybeans. It is expected to provide preventive and post-infection control against many damaging pathogens in soybeans. Xemium will also be included in Monsanto’s Acceleron Seed Treatment Package for soybeans and cotton.
Nick Fassler, technical market manager for BASF, says the biggest benefit of Priaxor may well be its consistent performance.
“Research has shown Priaxor to be the most consistent soybean fungicide available,” he says.
Fassler says this consistency is apparent in the 75 company research trials conducted the past two years. In these trials, Priaxor-treated soybeans out-yielded the untreated checks 87% of the time. Compare that to the current leader in the soybean market, Headline, which out-yielded the untreated checks 83% of the time, he says.
Fassler says the consistency may be in part to the product’s unique distribution properties. Priaxor develops microscopic crystalized “depots” on the waxy layer of the soybean plant that continue to dole out the active ingredient over an additional 21- to 28-day period.
BASF continues to recommend a holistic approach for limiting disease pressure that includes tools such as resistant varieties, crop rotation and even deep tillage when warranted.
Additional testing of Priaxor will occur this year. In particular, Fassler says he is excited about participation with the Iowa On-Farm Network and the Illinois Soybean Association Yield Challenge. More than 200 total replicated trials are planned for this year, he says.
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In this company trial, the bottom half of soybean leaves were treated with Xexium fungicide and then inoculated with Asian Soybean Rust to determine how the active ingredient redistributes to other areas of the plant. |
Merivon for Specialty Crops
Merivon is a 1:1 premix fungicide of F500 (an active ingredient in Pristine fungicide) and Xemium. It is labeled for use on several pome and stone fruit crops, including apples, cherries and peaches.
“Merivon fungicide will be an important tool that’s both reliable and successful in providing the protection specialty crops need from damaging, yield-robbing diseases,” says Caren Schmidt, technical service representative with BASF.
Schmidt says that three years of BASF in-field research shows effective control of diseases that annually affect pome and stone fruits. These studies focused on scab in apples; powdery mildew and leaf spot in cherries; and blossom blight, shot hole and powdery mildew in peaches.
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