Brassica consumption is set for a renaissance this winter according to Syngenta, as consumers return to recipes representing traditional as cash gets increasingly short. While popularity increases, experts agree that high-quality green leaf will be crucial to tempt greater consumption.
Brassica growers could now deliver higher quality greens, with the help of increased levels of curative disease control from well-timed applications of Amistar Top (azoxystrobin and difenoconazole). Results of independent trials in Lincolnshire last season identified significant extra levels of curative control of Ringspot with Amistar Top programmes, compared to other strobilurin-based fungicides.
Syngenta technical manager, Jon Ogborn, reports that growers have been tank-mixing Amistar (azoxystrobin) with Plover (difenoconazole) for some years, but the new optimised formulation of the two active ingredients in Amistar Top has proven extremely effective on a broad spectrum of brassica diseases, especially Ringspot, Powdery Mildew and White Blister.
“With the intense price pressure put upon brassica growers to supply exceptional quality at the lowest possible price, the better value offered by the pre-formulated product is helping to minimise input costs,” said Ogborn. “The trials demonstrate growers can successfully now alternate Amistar Top applications with straight Plover, to get the highest levels of control under difficult conditions,” he advises. “The combination provides extra curative activity to effectively control diseases that threaten the marketable quality of brassica crops close to harvest. This is combined with excellent crop safety.”
The independent trials in Lincolnshire, undertaken by Agrochemex, reported an Amistar Top/Plover programme giving 98 per cent control of Ringspot in a crop of the cabbage variety Canada, when a tebuconazole and trifloxystrobin/Plover alternation achieved just 75 per cent reduction in disease level.
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