Category — Crop Inputs
Minuet biological fungicide, by Bayer CropScience
Commercial Launch: December 2022
With potato diseases threatening crops and some older crop protection chemistries unable to use, new products are needed. Minuet, a new biological fungicide, protects potato crops against diseases such as rhizoctonia root rot, pink rot and many other diseases.
It’s a concentrated in-furrow biological fungicide specifically designed for soil application. Minuet uses a FRAC Group BM02 fungicide active (Bacillus subtilis strain QST 713) to protect against soil-borne diseases such as rhizoctonia root rot, black scurf, and stem canker, and it can also protect against pink rot and root rot caused by fusarium, phytophthora and pythium.
When applied to the root zone, Minuet colonizes the roots and helps enhance root growth, increasing nutrient uptake by solubilizing nutrients bound in the soil, and helping to protect plants against biotic and abiotic stress. It supports early plant establishment and increases vigour in potatoes increasing the quality and yield potential of crops.
Minuet has been approved for use on organic crops in Canada.
ReNew and UnLeash, by CanGrow Crop Solutions
Commercial Launch: 2022
Fertilizers, fungicides and herbicides help potatoes to grow healthy and achieve higher yields, however they are expensive and if overused can cause issues for plants. ReNew and UnLeash use microbial teams of bacteria and fungi to enhance plant growth and productivity. The microbes support nitrogen fixation, phosphorus solubilization, increased nutrient availability, production of plant stress reducing factors and production of vitamins and growth promoting hormones.
ReNew has a diverse microorganism team which ensures soil and plants efficiently work together to maximize growth and productivity. It provides plant enhancement capabilities including vitamin and hormone production, nutrient releasers, and stress reducers. It’s applied in-furrow with water or fertilizers. UnLeash is a microbial biostimulant, residue manager and degrader all in one. It’s applied to the soil surface and can be mixed with herbicides, fungicides, or fertilizers.
Restrain Ethylene, by Restrain Company Ltd.
Commercial Launch: 2022
Keeping potatoes in top condition during storage and reducing sprouts on them is an important part of the production process. With regulations changing around the world, growers are finding themselves unable to use some traditional sprout inhibitors. Restrain Ethylene is a sustainable economic sprout inhibitor that has zero residue.
Restrain Ethylene is a post-harvest application sprout. It uses natural ethylene gas at a low, continuous concentration to control potato sprouting. Using ethylene gas means you won’t leave any residue in your crop or storage facility, allowing you to deliver potatoes which can be used immediately for processing.
The Restrain generator converts ethanol into ethylene gas and then distributes it evenly and continuous throughout your potato storage, whether you crop is in bulk or boxes. You can ventilate your storage daily without affecting sprouting and without having to make any modifications. The generator includes a sensor and maintains the pre-set ethylene concentration, as well as logging storage levels for carbon dioxide levels, humidity, and temperature. Data is recorded every half hour and is available to review.
Restrain Ethylene is approved for use on organic potatoes.
SP 327 Chipping potato variety, by Peter Vander Zaag at Sunrise Potato Storage
Commercial Launch: May 5, 2020
With new options in the world of plant breeding, new potato varieties can tackle weather and disease threats which make all the difference to grow a successful crop. SP 327 is a high yielding chipping potato variety, that can also be sold as a fresh potato variety. It has outstanding chipping quality from the field and even after long-term storage.
SP 327 has also demonstrated tolerance to heat and drought. It has resistance to numerous diseases including common scab, verticillium wilt and potato early dying. SP 327 has round, uniform medium sized tubers with shallow eyes and white flesh.
XiteBio Tuber+, by XiteBio Technologies Inc.
Commercial Launch: 2023
Fertilizers are an important but expensive part of potato production. XiteBio Tuber+ uses phosphate solubilizing plant growth promoting rhizobacteria technology to colonize plant roots and solubilize soil fixed phosphorus making it more available for uptake by tuber plants. It also chelates iron, helping with iron acquisition by making it available to the plant and providing phytohormones that stimulates plant growth and early root development.
XiteBio Tuber+ increases the efficiency of phosphate fertilizers by saving money for growers on their production costs and increasing sustainability. It can be used in tandem with a grower’s regular fertilizer program and can be applied In-furrow by itself, with water, or with starter liquid fertilizers. And it can be used in early-post application by tank-mixing with many post-emergent herbicides at the zero to six leaf stage.
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