U.S. chemical firm Chemtura and ag input retail firm UAP Canada have registration in hand for a new fungicidal seed treatment for use by Prairie cereal growers.
Rancona Apex will be available this season for use by farmers in Western Canada, UAP said in a release Friday. UAP has the Chemtura product’s Prairie marketing and distribution rights.
Rancona contains the systemic and contact fungicide ipconazole, a seed-applied product which UAP said protects against a “broad spectrum” of seed and seedling diseases through a formulation “specifically designed” for wheat, barley, rye and oats.
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“Rancona Apex has proved itself to be outstanding on wheat, combining excellent control of a range of important seed and soil-borne diseases, including true loose smut and fusarium seedling blight as well as foot rots,” said Mike McFatrich, Chemtura’s North American business lead for seed enhancements, in UAP’s release Friday.
UAP said the new product shows “high efficacy” against a majority of seed and soil-borne fungi in the plant pathogenic fungal classes of zygomycetes, ascomycetes, basidiomycetes and fungi imperfect (deuteromycetes) which cause seed decay, damping-off and seedling blight.