Trifloxystrobin (Stratego¨ fungicide) labeled for wheat. SYNGENTA, BAYER, NOVARTIS, ZENECA, QUADRIS. 2000.

FLUORIDE ACTION NETWORK PESTICIDE PROJECT

Trifloxystrobin (Stratego® fungicide) labeled for wheat. Syngenta, Bayer, Novartis, Zeneca, Quadris. 2000.

UNIVERSITY OF KENTUCKY WHEAT SCIENCE NEWS

http://www.ca.uky.edu/ukrec/Apr01news.htm

Volume 5, Issue 3 April 2001

Stratego Foliar Fungicide Labeled for Wheat

Don Hershman - Extension Plant Pathologist

About the 20th of July, 2000, Novartis quietly received a wheat label for the product Stratego. However, subsequent to getting this label, Novartis merged with Zeneca, the manufacturer of Quadris, which also has a wheat label. During the merger between Novartis and Zeneca (to become Syngenta), Novartis acquired Quadris and, in turn, divested itself of Stratego. At that point, Stratego was picked up by Bayer who is now offering the product for sale nationally for use on wheat. Confused? Me too, but the above is an accurate description of what events transpired to bring Stratego to Bayer, and raise Syngenta out of the merger between Novartis and Zeneca. The net impact of the formation of Syngenta on the wheat fungicide market is that Syngenta now holds the labels for both Tilt and Quadis and Bayer holds the label for Stratego.

So, as of this writing, there are now three main foliar fungicides that may legally be applied to wheat. Tilt, which everyone is familiar with, Quadris and Stratego. Quadris received a wheat label before the 2000 growing season, but very little product was used in Kentucky due to the established use patterns for Tilt, and the unacceptably high price (under current wheat economics) of Quadris. Syngenta may opt to sell Quadris at a lower price, but as of this writing I do not know if that will be the case.

Stratego is a mixture of Tilt and Flint (very similar to Quadris). Because of the Tilt component in the mix, Stratego has the same time of application restriction as Tilt. That is, product cannot be applied later than FeekeÕs stage 8 (flag leaf emergence). Unlike Tilt, however, Stratego has a plant back restriction which (at least for now) precludes double crop soybean being planted the same season Stratego is used. You may recall that Tilt had this same label restriction years ago and it was eventually removed as a barrier to application. Similarly, Bayer is working feverishly to get this restriction lifted from the existing Stratego label, but my Bayer contact says that it is unlikely that the restriction will be lifted in time for the 2001 growing season. Obviously, in a state like Kentucky where almost all harvested wheat acres are planted to doublecrop soybean, this is a serious label restriction.

Based on my experience and my perusal of the literature, Stratego will do an excellent job in the control of leaf rust, and various fungal leaf spot/blotch diseases. It will be the weakest against powdery mildew. Please note, that as with all fungicides, early application may result in poor disease control if sufficient fungicide active ingredient is not present in and on crop tissue at the time disease develops. This situation is very common when fungicides are applied well before crop heading, but disease develops during the post heading period. Price, availability, and a relaxing of the doublecrop soybean restriction will be the main factors that determine whether or not Stratego will be a major competitor to Tilt in Kentucky. It is my understanding that Stratego will be competitively priced with Tilt. I will keep you updated as new information becomes available.

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Press Release from Syngenta:

http://www.syngentacropprotection-us.com/Media/article.asp?article_id=84

November 11, 1999

Novartis Breaks Industry Record with Four New Active Ingredients Registered in 1999

"It's really been an extraordinary year for Novartis Crop Protection on the registration front," said Dave Whitacre, senior vice president, science, for Novartis.

The four new active ingredients by Novartis are:

Trifloxystrobin for Flintª, Strategoª and Compassª fungicides. These products offer broad-spectrum control of many fungal pathogens with some post-infection activity in apples, grapes, vegetables, peanuts, turf, potatoes, sugar beets, wheat, almonds, hops and other crops.

Pymetrozine for Fulfillª and Endeavorª insecticides. These products offer excellent aphid control and suppression of whiteflies in vegetables, tobacco, potatoes and cotton.

Emamectin benzoate for Proclaimª and Denimª insecticides. These products provide full-spectrum control of many economically important leaf-eating lepidopteran pests at very low use rates on cole crops, leafy vegetables and fruiting vegetables.

Fluthiacet-methyl for Actionª herbicide on soybeans. "Adding to the magnitude of this accomplishment is the fact that, since FQPA was passed in 1996, the flow of new product registrations has slowed and the challenge of registering them has clearly increased," added Whitacre. "Because of their reduced risk status, trifloxystrobin and pymetrozine made it through the EPA in 19 and 22 months, respectively."

Novartis hopes to register additional new active ingredients next year, including thiamethoxam (a neonicotinoid-class insecticide in Actaraª, Platinumª, Adageª and Helixª among other products), acibenzolar-s-methyl (the active ingredient in Actigardª, the plant activator) and clodinafop (the active ingredient in Discoverª herbicide).

Novartis Crop Protection, Inc. is the world's leading supplier of crop protection and specialty products, with NAFTA headquarters in Greensboro. Novartis Crop Protection is a sector company of Novartis AG, a world leader in life sciences with core businesses in healthcare, agribusiness and consumer health. Headquartered in Basel, Switzerland, Novartis AG employs about 82,000 people and operates in more than 100 countries around the world.