EverGol™ Prime

THE NEW BENCHMARK IN FIGHTING RHIZOCTONIA ROOT ROT

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Scuffy bald patches, thin plant stands, lost yield: wheat affected by rhizoctonia root rot is a common and costly problem in Australia. But now, at last, there is an effective means of tackling this problem: the fungicidal seed treatment EverGol Prime. Its active ingredient penflufen suppresses rhizoctonia root rot and controls smut diseases such as bunt.

Rhizoctonia root rot on the rise

Australia, one of the world’s most important wheat producing regions, has a problem with rhizoctonia root rot. This fungal soil pathogen attacks and trims a plant’s roots from the start, weakening the plant and causing 5-20 percent yield losses. Sometimes they can be as high as 50 percent in severely infected fields. Rhizoctonia is the most costly root disease in Australia’s large wheat producing regions of Southern and Western Australia, where it is responsible for nearly $77 million in lost wheat and barley yield each year. Experts fear the problem is on the rise, with rhizoctonia becoming more prevalent as farmers cope with long dry spells while embracing reduced tillage systems and tighter cereal crop rotations to maximize productivity. To date, Australian farmers and agronomists have had few tools to suppress this root disease, let alone prevent it. Some products have claimed activity against rhizoctonia, but few have delivered genuine results.

A remedy at last

Broad-acre farmers in Australia now have a powerful new weapon to win the battle against rhizoctonia from the moment seeds are sown – EverGol Prime from Bayer CropScience. Launched in Australia in February 2013, this revolutionary fungicidal seed treatment features the active ingredient Penflufen, which provides outstanding suppression of rhizoctonia root rot as well as controlling diseases like the smuts and bunts. This is what Greg Toomey, an agronomist with Landmark Elmore, has to say:

“In the last two years of trial demonstrations, I’ve seen EverGol Prime’s standout performance in the plots, and it looks to have set a new standard for rhizoctonia suppression.”

Bayer SeedGrowth™ is contributing to the highest yields in Australia's agricultural history

Rooting out the problem fast

EverGol Prime works fast, and gets right down to the root of the problem – literally. With exceptionally high activity on disease, EverGol Prime’s limited systemicity and low water solubility mean it stays in and around the root zone where it is needed to protect the plant throughout critical growth stages. Besides its important fungicidal properties, EverGol Prime-treated seeds offer farmers three other key benefits, as trial after trial across Australia’s agricultural belt proved:
  • Disease-free plants with more developed root systems enable greater nutrient and water uptake and thus stronger, healthier stems; in essence, these plants are fit from the start and hence better able to develop to their full potential.
  • Fast-growing plants that come out of the ground more quickly and with more vigor and vitality than untreated crops.
  • Higher yields and profits at the farm gate through fitter, faster emerging plants that result in better crop establishment and more biomass; from an ROI perspective, EverGol Prime has demonstrated the potential to deliver up to 20 percent increased yields over untreated seeds enabling the farmer to come in first.

Making a big yield difference

This yield difference can put a farmer above the competition, and make a big difference to his bottom line. The launch of EverGol Prime for wheat and barley in Australia has been met with great enthusiasm by farmers, agronomists and seed companies alike. They see EverGol Prime as a chance to take a winning stand against rhizoctonia root rot.
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