The market of fungicides for potatoes in Russia is represented by a very wide range of preparations. The main purpose of their use is to protect plants from diseases during the growing season, primarily from late blight and alternaria. However, there are other pathogens that have a detrimental effect on the yield and quality of potatoes.
Manufacturers of plant protection products are investing more and more efforts and resources in the development and production of drugs that restrain the development of diseases, however, nature is also able to adapt to the variability of the environment - pathogens have the ability to mutate, and many products that were recently considered effective are no longer able to control the changed population of late blight and alternaria. New molecules rarely appear on the market, as they take decades to develop. That is why manufacturers of fungicides prefer mixed formulations: it takes a very long time for a pathogen to develop resistance to active substances belonging to different chemical classes. In addition, there are active substances, the development of resistance to which is unlikely. Basically, these are active substances of the contact type, which have a protective and prophylactic effect and act as an element of an anti-resistance strategy, which is mandatory with repeated use of fungicides.
The rich choice of drugs to control late blight and Alternaria during the growing season often baffles agricultural producers: which is preferable - a well-known brand or a low cost of the product? The answer is obvious, especially for agrarians who faced the weak efficacy of generic drugs during the years of epiphytotic development of the disease. In addition to the active substance, the original preparation contains a set of adhesives, adjuvants and other additives, due to which its effectiveness does not depend on weather conditions and agricultural technology used in the farm. It is important that the drug retains maximum effectiveness both in the hot and arid southern regions of the country, and in the harsh conditions of the Siberian, Ural and northwestern territories.
Syngenta's products meet all these requirements. A wide range of fungicides are designed to protect potatoes from emergence before harvest. Familiar brands of RIDOMIL® GOLD MC, REVUS® TOP, SHIRLAN® and BRAVO® this year we have replenished with a new product - RIDOMIL® GOLD R.
But before introducing a new product, it is necessary to identify another problem in potato growing, which currently has no solution. Bacteriosis is a disease that is caused by various pectolytic bacteria and causes a lot of inconvenience to potato growers.
Bacteria are unicellular organisms, represented by more than 100 species only as pathogens of cultivated plants. On potatoes, the main ones are ring rot (bacteria of the genus Clavibacter), quarantine object brown bacterial rot (Ralstonia solanacearum (Smith) Yabuuchi et al.) And bacterial blackleg (bacteria of the genus Pseudomonas, erwinia, Dickey). Due to the regular appearance of new, difficult to identify pathogens and the peculiarities of their transmission (by a contact method from diseased plants to healthy ones), bacteria that cause the "black leg" of potatoes have recently become especially widespread.
The difficulty in controlling bacterioses lies in the fact that they parasitize inside the plant, and fungicidal preparations do not act on them. The existing methods of bacteriosis control combine a whole range of measures, including agrotechnical methods (crop rotation, balanced fertilization, leaf desiccation, etc.), seed-growing (use of sanitized and tested seed material), phytosanitary (processing of storage facilities, removal of infected plants from the field ) and chemical (containing the spread of bacteriosis using copper-containing preparations). However, copper-containing preparations on the market are not very effective in coping with this problem. They are mainly presented in the form of a wettable powder (SP), which is characterized by a high degree of dusting during use, poor solubility and low efficiency due to the lack of resistance to washout.
New drug from the company "Syngenta" RIDOMIL® GOLD R is a copper-containing fungicide that is effective against late blight and potato alternaria, has a bactericidal effect and does not have the disadvantages inherent in standard copper-containing SP formulations.
The preparation contains two active ingredients - mefenoxam and copper oxychloride. Mefenoxam (metalaxyl-M) has an exceptional effect against oomycetes, is highly systemic and can be used in the fight against the pathogen both for prophylactic and therapeutic purposes.
The fungicidal and bactericidal properties of copper have been known for a long time. Copper began to be used in plant protection in the XNUMXth century: wheat seeds were treated with copper sulfate.
As a contact agent, copper is effective against almost all groups of pathogens. In addition, it has a multisite effect on pathogens - the emergence of copper resistance is almost impossible. The modern range of plant protection products uses compounds of this metal, such as copper sulfate, copper hydroxide and copper oxychloride. However, each of them has its own peculiarities of application: copper sulfate is ineffective (it acts only in combination with calcium, but at the same time it becomes toxic to both plants and people), copper hydroxide has a very low solubility, and copper oxychloride (most drugs on the market ) has a high degree of dusting, easily precipitates and is not resistant to washing off.
The drug RIDOMIL® GOLD R was created to overcome these limitations: it contains the most effective product against oomycetes - mefenoxam, as well as copper, presented in a completely new formulation - water-soluble granules (WDG). Formula M (developed by Syngenta) allows you to create a formulation that is not prone to dust and is safe for the operator. The drug has a high solubility, resistance to washing off, safety for the environment and the operator, and, with a lower content of AI compared to other drugs, maximum efficiency.
This was achieved through elaboration of the formulation. It is no secret that the same active substance, when presented in different formulations, has different effectiveness. For example, a liquid pain reliever is always preferred over a solid pain reliever because it dissolves more quickly and travels to the source of the pain. A similar principle for the formulation of copper in RIDOMIL® GOLD R: particles have a higher dispersion and, accordingly, behave better in solution. In standard preparations, the particle size is 5-10 microns, and in RIDOMIL® GOLD R - no more than 1 micron. Therefore, within 5 seconds after being placed in water, the drug is completely dissolved.
Standard solutions are a combination of differently charged particles that "attract" to each other and create clumps. And in RIDOMIL® GOLD R copper particles are converted into a colloidal form, where the particles have the same charge and, accordingly, repel each other (within the vessel for creating a solution), creating a stable solution. Thanks to these features, it turned out to be possible to reduce the copper content in the preparation, since due to its dispersion, the preparation is perfectly distributed throughout the plant, is resistant to washing off and has high efficiency with a lower copper content. By the way, this is one of the factors affecting the safety of the fungicide for crops, the environment and humans.
Key benefits of RIDOMIL® GOLD R:
- a combination of two active substances in one formulation, which is highly effective against pathogens of late blight, Alternaria (potatoes, tomatoes), peronosporosis (onions), mildew and anthracnose (grapes);
- new formulation of copper at a lower concentration of the element provides better protection of the crop ("soft" for the crop), does not accumulate in the soil;
- has an additional effect - the prevention of bacteriosis;
- improved solubility;
- higher resistance - copper oxychloride in the EDG formulation is chemically resistant to sunlight, moisture, as well as oxygen and carbon dioxide in the air.
RIDOMIL® GOLD R is registered in various crops against diseases such as late blight and alternaria (potatoes, tomatoes), peronosporosis (onions), mildew and anthracnose (grapes).
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