New Chemistry

November ,2002

Historically, cereals were treated to control smut, bunt and seedling blight. Vitavax Solution did that very well. Now Fusarium head blight is the most serious cause of cereal crop value loss, and it's control on the seed is essential to prevent spread of the disease, and damage to infected seed. Vitavax Solution will not control seed borne fusarium graminearum.

1. Solvent based - Vitavax single®, dual®
- Older products available only in Canada.

Advantages

Temperature insensitive - few flow or atomizing problems.
Easily atomized for uniform seed coverage.
Rapid seed penetration and drydown.

Disadvantages

Limited control spectrum - doesn't control Fusarium Head Blight on the seed.
High personnel antagonism. (Aromatic vapors, staining)
Seed vigor / germination damage if applied at higher rates.

2. Water/ glycol based - Vitaflo 280

Advantages

Wider control spectrum than Vitavax Solution.

Disadvantages

Requires higher than normal rate to control of Fusarium head blight on the seed.
High solids content tends to settle in container.
Thiram component tends to separate and dust off.
Very irritating to user's eyes and taste.

3. Newer Water Based - Baytan, Charter, Dividend, Raxil

Advantages

Wider and more persistent disease control spectrum.
Less personnel antagonism - no smell and easy cleanup.
Low solids content allows more unifonn product - Less concern with settling in storage.
Usually better seed safety - less potential for vigor damage compared to solvents.

Disadvantages

Difficult to use at low temperatures - poor flow / atomizing.
More difficult to get seed distribution uniformity.
Water modifies seed flow - CPS wheat will stick to augers and gravity drifts may see rate change.
Slower seed penetration and drydown.

Pulse and Soybean Treating Chemistry - November, 2002

Pulse crops are more disease prone than cereals, so require added protection to prevent field loss. Peas, lentils and chickpeas have little genetic disease resistance so far, so seed treating and rotation are the main means of limiting disease impact on yield. Soybeans have a much better genetic disease resistance, but are vulnerable disease if stalled by cold planting.

The product used will vary, depending on the disease problem, which is usually dictated by location. Diseases are listed starting with the most yield damaging one.

When treating pulses, co-applying inoculants, seed damage and moisture levels all become issues. We have developed pulse-treating systems to address these concerns.

Crop	Main disease	Main Control agents
Lentils
	Ascochyta Seedling blight / Anthracnose	Crown
	Fusarium seedling blight / root rot	Vitaflo 280, Crown
	Botrytis	Vitaflo 280
	Peas
	Pythium / Fusarium Root rot	Apron, Thiram, Apron + Thiram, Crown
	Seedling blight / Seed rot	Thiram, Vitaflo 280+ Apron, Captan
Chickpeas
Kabuli's	Pythium Root rot	Apron, Apron + Thiram, Crown + Apron
Kabuli's & Desi's	Ascochyta Seedling blight	Crown + Apron
	Fusarium Root rot	Thiram; Vitaflo280, Crown
	Botrytis	Vitaflo280
Soybeans and Colored Beans
	Pythium Root rot	Apron, Thiram, Apron + Thiram, ApronMaxx Bean pac, Crown
	Seedling blight / Seed rot	Thiram, Vitaflo 280+ Apron, ApronMaxx Bean pac, Captan
	Phytophora rot	ApronMaxx Bean pac, Apron

Seed Treatment Future Developments

1. Seed treatments will become more yield enhancing, widely used, and costly.
2. Seed treating will increasingly become the basis of integrated pest control, replacing many post-emergent applications.
3. Seed treating application will become more precise, to capture better value from the increased treatment cost.
4. Seed treaters will be faced with increasing numbers of formulations to deliver more pest control on the seed. Most will be tank mixes of primary products.
5. Canada is a small player in the world of ag Production, so there will be a delay getting optimum formulations for Canadian conditions.