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.
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.
- 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 mail 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