The launch of two new, exciting fungicides for use in canola and cereal crops during the 2021 broadacre cropping season is set to tick a lot of boxes for growers across the country. 

 They can look forward to additional options for controlling diseases and assisting disease resistance management; flexibility of treatment timings; and, critically, crop safety in mixes with various other protection and input products, allowing convenient, one-pass applications and further enhancing disease control and resistance management.

 ADAMA Australia has introduced both Maxentis^® EC and Proviso^® fungicides to the local industry for use in canola, wheat, barley and oat crops this season.

Maxentis is a unique co-formulation of two of the world’s most effective fungicides, prothioconazole and azoxystrobin. As a Group 3 and 11, dual mode of action fungicide, it provides improved disease control spectrum, efficacy and resistance management, as well as an important rotation option following commonly used in-furrow and seed treatment fungicides.

Maxentis can be applied safely at various crop stages and with a range of other crop protection and nutrition products with reduced risk of crop damage. The two new products add to one of the most extensive fungicide ranges in the industry, tackling diseases in all major broadacre crop types.

Rapidly absorbed by leaves, it controls key diseases including seedling and upper canopy blackleg and sclerotinia in canola, as well as rusts, powdery mildew, septoria, yellow leaf spot, scald and ramularia in cereals, while it also features Australia’s first registered claim for control of physiological leaf spot (PLS) in barley.

Maxentis® trial at ADAMA Australia’s Solutions Site in Roseworthy SA, 2020.

Proviso is a novel prothioconazole fungicide featuring ADAMA’s unique Asorbital™ technology, which enables enhanced uptake and systemic activity for improved efficacy, compatibility and crop safety.

Prothioconazole has shown to be the most effective demethylation inhibitor (DMI) fungicide for controlling various diseases, including net blotch populations with low and developing levels of resistance. However, rather than simply introducing another prothioconazole fungicide, ADAMA strived to develop an all-new formulation of the proven active ingredient to ensure real and tangible benefits to growers.

Proviso can be used in tank mixes with a range of other crop protection and nutrition products, controlling a broader range of diseases in canola and cereals, including fusarium head blight in wheat, and to assist disease management. It can be ideally applied as the first foliar application following the use of Succinate Dehydrogenase Inhibitor (SDHI) or strobilurin-based fungicides on seed or in-furrow.

ADAMA Australia Portfolio Manager – Fungicides, Matt Sherriff, said the arrival of Maxentis and Proviso fungicides would take the headache out of disease management for many canola and cereal growers.

Matt said research had confirmed Maxentis offered better crop safety than existing benchmark fungicides whether applied alone or in tank mixes, and it was a similar story for Proviso with its unique formulation.

“Growers will be aware of crop safety and mixing issues when tank mixing various crop protection and nutrition products. Maxentis and Proviso are safer formulations for applications in mixtures, allowing growers to cover their crops in one pass,’’ Matt said.

“Compared with using other fungicides, they will have more flexibility than they have had before to go with various tank mixes from an early stage.’’

ADAMA Australia Portfolio Manager – Fungicides, Matt Sherriff, says new Maxentis and Proviso fungicides will take the headache out of disease management for many canola and cereal growers.

He said Maxentis was one of the few fungicides registered for use in canola containing azoxystrobin and it could be included with top-up applications of herbicides like atrazine as early as the four to six-leaf crop growth stage, as could Proviso.
“This is when a lot of blackleg is coming in and developing resistance to both seed variety genetics and seed treatment fungicides.’’

Maxentis can be applied through to the flag leaf stage in cereals and Matt said it would be particularly valuable as an alternative mode of action group in cases where SDHI fungicide already had been applied on seed or in-furrow.

In oats, he said the azoxystrobin component could offer potential greening benefits, while the fungicide’s mixing capability and rapid absorption would be strongly welcomed.

Matt said Proviso was a more cost-effective and adaptable fungicide, and, to enhance its effectiveness, could be applied with a host of tank mix partners, many of which are conveniently listed on the product label.

He said growers could also have confidence in the knowledge that even where resistance may be developing to any triazoles, prothioconazole was the most effective of these fungicides and by using Proviso, they could avoid paying for additional active ingredients that may now be less effective.

Maxentis and Proviso fungicides were recently included in 30 trials across the country, where they demonstrated their mixing capability with numerous products, crop safety and effectiveness against all major diseases compared with existing standards.

In SA, ADAMA Australia Market Development Manager Ashley Pilkington said with SDHI fungicide treatments becoming popular on canola seed, Maxentis EC and Proviso would prove to be valuable rotation tools for blackleg management.

“Growers could look at applying Proviso early or perhaps Maxentis in higher rainfall areas, followed by a product like Veritas^® Opti at 30 per cent flowering,’’ Ashley said.

ADAMA Australia’s Ashley Pilkington discussing the results from a recent physical compatibility trial for Maxentis® Fungicide in Roseworthy, SA.

Similarly in cereals, SDHI seed treatments have been heavily used without effective follow-up management and epoxiconazole had dominated foliar applications particularly in wheat, which meant Maxentis would now be an important alternative fungicide option for growers.

“It has a good fit for septoria and powdery mildew management in wheat, as well as spot form and net form net blotch in barley, and it is cost-effective,’’ Ashley said.

He said he was impressed with the crop safety demonstrated by both Maxentis and Proviso in applications with herbicides and liquid nitrogen in wheat and canola, providing opportunity for good tank mix combinations.

“It gives growers the opportunity to custom blend in their fungicide programs and enhance disease control in combination with other products.’’

Ashley also expected the fungicides would have a good fit in oat crops, especially with Proviso only having a 14-day withholding period compared with three-week periods for some other products.

“It’s a great option if, after applications near grain-fill, crops get frosted and then may need to be cut for hay and sold,’’ he said.

In Victoria, Greg Toomey, Branch Manager & Agronomist at Nutrien Ag Solutions in Elmore, sees a strong fit for Maxentis in his oaten hay program this season.

“We saw Maxentis in trials locally last year and were very impressed by the colour that it maintained in the hay, it even seemed to increase biomass and looks like a really good product,” Greg said.

“We’re aiming to improve the quality and the quantity of hay, and we’ve seen some other products for disease protection on hay and been using them, but after seeing Maxentis in trials last year we think that will be the number one product we’ll be trying this year in our export oaten hay program.”

Hear Greg Toomey, Branch Manager & Agronomist at Nutrien Ag Solutions in Elmore, VIC discussing his thoughts on the NEW Maxentis® fungicide, including how it performed in local trials in 2020, plus how it can help improve the quality and quantity of hay production for growers.

For further information on the new Maxentis and Proviso fungicides, growers can contact their local ADAMA Australia representative or visit ADAMA.com.

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