The company "August", a major Russian manufacturer of chemical plant protection products (HSZR), has registered "Srilank" - the first hybrid fungicide in Russia for use in horticulture and vegetable growing, combining in its composition active ingredients of biological and chemical origin. It is approved for use on apple, pear, grapes, carrots, open field tomatoes and white cabbage to combat such common and dangerous diseases for crops as scab, powdery mildew, alternariosis, oidium, black spot, black rot, gray rot. The use of the drug reduces the chemical load on the environment, activates the plants' own immunity and increases their resistance to stress factors.
“With the increase in the intensity of the use of CPPP in agriculture, a need arose in the domestic market for drugs that are not inferior in terms of the results of use to proven active ingredients of synthetic origin, but at the same time meet the high requirements of biological effectiveness against pathogens in relation to environmental safety for the population and nature,” says Vladimir Barkov, head of the product development department of the August company. – Today, combined plant protection products are a relatively new direction in the industry, but with its further development, the need for hybrid preparations will increase. Our company is taking the first step on this path: Avgust launches Srilank, a drug that combines a combination of tea tree oil (400 g/l) and difenoconazole (150 g/l) in a preparative form of a microemulsion concentrate.”
Tea tree oil is the essential oil of an Australian plant. Melaleuca alternifolia. It is a natural product of hydrodistillation of vegetable raw materials, which is a complex mixture of more than 40 biologically active substances. Its healing effect was already known to the Australian Aborigines, who used it in traditional medicine. The principle of action of the main biological substance (terpinen-4-ol, the content in oil is about 40%) is based on the suppression of respiration and the destruction of the cell membranes of the pathogen. Some of the other essential oil molecules stimulate the plant's immune system: the culture reacts to them like a vaccine, increasing its own defense against fungi, bacteria and other biotic stresses. Also, tea tree oil can repel insect pests. At the same time, it is completely biodegradable and belongs to the 4th hazard class for humans and bees. Tea tree oil has a contact action, causing the death of those pathogens that are in direct contact with the substance. Systemic action, involving penetration into the plant, movement through its vessels and protection at the cellular level, provides the second active ingredient - difenoconazole. It is well known to gardeners and vegetable growers, it is a component of chemical origin from the class of triazoles, which disrupts biosynthetic processes in the body of pathogenic fungi and inhibits the growth of mycelium.
The new drug showed high biological efficiency due to the synergy of the two active components. The hybrid properties of Srilanka make it possible to reduce the proportion of active substances of chemical origin used in the protection of fruit and vegetable crops and synthetic preparations in general, slow down the development of resistance to pathogens and reduce the total pesticide load on the environment.
“In the Stavropol Territory, a region where a significant part of domestic fruits, in particular apples, is grown, the conditions of the current season with prolonged spring rains have been extremely favorable for the development of scab,” says Dmitry Belov, head of the marketing department at JSC Firma August. – This allowed us to test Srilanka with very significant results on several plots in apple orchards at once. When hot, dry weather set in in summer, no symptoms of the disease were detected on trees treated in spring, including young shoots: we did not find any traces of scab on the upper or lower side of the leaves. The same applied to the fruits - they were all "clean", and their size corresponded to the season. So in the apple scab protection program, we have a new strong “player”.
Recommendations for the use of "Srilanka":
• Spraying apple and pear against scab, powdery mildew, alternariosis is carried out up to three times during the growing season with an interval of no more than 10 - 14 days. Consumption rate - 0,3-0,6 l / ha.
• Grapes against oidium, black spot, black rot, gray rot are treated in the spring in the budding - flowering phase, again - until the berries close in bunches, then - with an interval of 10-14 days. A total of 4 treatments are allowed. Consumption rate - 0,5-0,7 l / ha.
• On vegetable crops (carrots, open-field tomatoes, white cabbage), 2 to 3 treatments can be carried out. The first - against alternariosis - is carried out prophylactically, the subsequent ones - with an interval of 10-14 days. Consumption rate - 0,5-0,7 l / ha.