Future of Grain
HIGHLIGHTING THE LATEST TECHNOLOGY IN GRAIN PRODUCTION AND UTILIZATION
Caramba fungicide registered in Canada
BASF Canada recently announced that it has received Pest Management Regulatory Agency (PMRA) registration for its Caramba fungicide for use on wheat, oats, barley and rye.
The triazole fungicide provides protection against Fusarium head blight and provides leaf disease control, says the company. The active ingredient metconazole, from the triazole (Group 3) family of fungicides is claimed to have protective and curative activity on a number of foliar diseases in a range of crops.
As it is recommended that Caramba is applied at 20 percent flowering for wheat, oats and rye, the product will not be available in Ontario or Quebec until 2011.
BASF also recently announced that it has applied for registration of two active ingredients worldwide. The products – Xemium fungicide and Initium fungicide – are being researched on a wide variety of crops, including row crops, for disease protection. The product is approved as a pre-emergent soil applied treatment for control of annual grass and broadleaf weeds as well as a pre-emergent tank mix partner on soybeans with a variety of other herbicides. •
Pioneer expands facilities in Chatham
Staff at Pioneer Hi-Bred in Chatham recently moved into the expanded facilities at their location. The company has doubled the size of its seed quality lab as a result of significant growth in the canola business, says president of Pioneer Hi-Bred, Ian Grant.
The lab is accredited to do seed testing for the North American market in corn, soybeans, canola, wheat, sunflowers and sorghum, says the company. Running more than 100,000 samples annually, the facility is able to test for germination, vigor, purity, plantability and disease screening. •
Syngenta gains Canadian approval for pest-control trait
The company recently announced the upcoming release of a new broad-spectrum pest-control trait that protects corn from black cutworm, Western bean cutworm, corn earworm, stalk borer, sugarcane borer and fall armyworm. According to Syngenta infestations of these pests, often known as lepidopteran corn pests, can cause more than $1.1 billion in annual losses in yield and grain quality in North America.
AgriSure Viptera is a built-in trait that offers season-long protection from all of them, claims the company. They say that when stacked with Agrisure 3000GT triple stack, Agrisure Viptera will offer in-seed protection against the aforementioned pests, corn borer and rootworm along with providing tolerance to glyphosate and glufosinate herbicides.
Pending all remaining regulatory and import approvals, Syngenta hopes to offer hybrids featuring this trait stack for planting in spring 2011.•
