The right formulation is worth its weight in gold

By Liza Bohlmann from Landbou Weekblad

It is often repeated at all the farmer information and study group meetings: Farmers need to produce more per hectare.

Allan Penny

Technical Sales Support

allan.penny@basf.com

To achieve this, agricultural companies have contributed through cultivar development. Another option is to develop new solutions for better disease control, as well as the unlocking the full production potential of the plants.

One such option for farmer is F500®, an active ingredient registered by BASF, which is an active ingredient with a series of benefits and is available to the market. F500® is one of the key active ingredients in two of BASF's top products which bring significant plant growth benefits. One product is Abacus Advance® for maize, soybean, sugarcane, sweetcorn, wheat and barley which provides growers with production advantages and disease protection. The other is Bellis® which performs wonders in sunflowers thanks to the disease control and yield increase effects.

For sunflower farmers, Bellis® has a distinctive double mode of action with a combination of boscalid and F500®. This combination provides control of targeted fungal diseases, produces healthier crops and increases yield.

Mr. Allan Penny, a Technical Support Manager from BASF, says that it goes beyond just adding the right active components in products. BASF spends as much as 35% of the product development costs in the optimization and formulation of products. We look at the combination of active ingredients from the onset to create a buffer against building of resistance and to give reliable performance. Abacus Advance® is thus carefully formulated with the combination of F500® and epoxiconazole (triazole).

The investment in research and development, is an added value for farmers, as shown in the benefits of Abacus Advance®:

  • Improved water usage
  • Improved assimilation of nitrogen that result in better plant growth
  • Increased daily CO2 absorption leading to increased starch production
  • A reduction in ethylene production under stress conditions, therefore fewer leaves, flowers and pods fall off enabling the crop to complete the grainfill process
  • A local systemic and translaminar fungicide, therefore all above ground parts of the plant are protected for optimum growth.
  • Protective and curative action.

There is a specific window period for the application and we encourage our customers to follow the directions closely. Abacus® should be applied on maize in growth stage 31 (first node visible above the soil surface; also at the 5-6 leaf stage is recommended). In the last season where it was fairly dry, maize farmers in the Chrissiesmeer Study Group showed a distinct advantage with yields between 227 kg to 260 kg per hectare more than the average.
  • Abacus Advance® as a fungicide provides protection against a variety of diseases on the following crops:
  • Maize and sweetcorn: Grey Leaf Spot, northern leaf blight and rust
  • Barley: Leaf spot, rust, leaf blotch and powdery mildew
  • Wheat: Leaf rust, brown rust, yellow rust and powdery mildew
  • Soybeans: Soybean rust and suppression of Sclerotinia
  • Sugarcane: African rust (Tawny rest) and rust

"We can proudly say that our results show an average yield increase of 10% across the different cultivars and farms locations"-Allan Penny

ENQUIRIES: Allan Penny at allan.penny@basf.com

Abacus® Reg. No. L8048 Act No. 36 or 1947. Active Ingredients: F500® 62.5 g/ℓ. Epoxiconazole 62.5 g/ℓ. Harmful. Bellis® Reg. No. L7817 Act No. 36 or 1947. Active Ingredients: F500® 128 g/kg. Boscalid 252 g/kg. Caution.

F500® - Pyraclostrobin.

BASF South Africa (Pty) Ltd 852 Sixteenth Street, Midrand, 1685 • Box 2801, Halfway House, 1685 • Tel: +27 11 203 2400 Fax: +27 11 203 2461

Website: www.agro.basf.co.za Mobielewebblad: m.agro.basf.co.za.

Abacus Advance®, Bellis® and F500® are registered trademarks of BASF

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