Farmers can now pick up some nanotech to help protect wheat, corn and soy crops against certain diseases.
Phobos FC 360 – a Group 3 prothioconazole-based fungicide labelled for use in winter wheat, corn, soy and various other crops — contains tiny, water-based polymers that coat the chemical molecule, allowing it to better cling to leaves rather than wash off in the rain.
“It makes the chemical very tank-mixable, very stable,” says Wade Clarke, national development manager for Vive Crop Protection in Canada.
WHY IT MATTERS: A more rain-resistant foliar fungicide could reduce waste of crop protection product and extend producers’ treatment options.
Phobos FC 360 was approved in March for use in Canada. Vive, a Mississauga-based company, was able to get the product approved in the U.S. a couple of years ago.
In winter and spring wheat, the product is registered for control of tan spot, speckled leaf blotch and leaf rust and, when applied once at a higher rate, control of glume blotch and suppression of fusarium head blight.
In corn, Phobos is registered for control of rusts, eyespot and northern blight and, at a higher rate, conrol of grey leaf spot and suppression of fusarium and gibberella ear rots and of certain stalk rots. In soybeans, it can be used for control of Asian soybean rust or frogeye leaf spot.
The rainfastness in Phobos comes from the company’s Allosperse Delivery Technology.
How it works
“If you can picture a spray concentration in a tank that gets sprayed across the field, there’s lots of little water droplets that land on the plant. If you get a rain after spraying, that (foliar fungicide) is not dry on-leaf — it can wash off.
“The polymer technology that Vive has … (causes it to) stick to the plant a lot better. And so when the active ingredient is stuck to the plant and dries fast, it’s less apt to wash off.”
This isn’t the first time Vive has waded into the nascent nanotechnology arena. Azteroid FC fungicide, also registered for Canadian use, also contains the Allosperse tech. Seven products registered in the U.S. carry the same nanotechnology, Clarke adds.
Phobos’s use of prothioconazole as its active ingredient adds to the product’s appeal, he says.
“Prothioconazole is a fairly widely used active ingredient in Canadian agriculture as it is, and so farmers and retailers are quite comfortable selling it (and) using it.”
Will farmers trust nanotech?
Some may wonder if farmers are prepared to welcome such a science fiction-adjacent concept as nanotechnology into their growing programs. Clarke doesn’t consider this a major roadblock.
“I think they’re excited with the opportunity to have a new technology come to the market. Anything that will make their traditional operations more effective, they’re definitely interested in hearing about (and) definitely interested in trying it.”
Trials conducted by Vive in Ontario, Manitoba and Saskatchewan appear to demonstrate the fungicide’s efficacy. In canola, in which Phobos reportedly showed “consistent control” of sclerotinia stem rot across Manitoba. The fungicide also appeared to boost yield and reduce deoxynivalenol (DON) in spring wheat.
“I think our technology has a great fit across multiple operations, and so we’re excited to work with our retail partners and our growers and compete in the marketplace with this product. “It’s going to be a lot of fun and we’re very excited about it,” Clarke says.
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