Tomato, capsicum, cucurbit and bulb vegetable growers are now set to benefit from a new effective fungicide option following new registrations for Bayer Crop Science’s Luna Experience.
Bayer’s market development agronomist for North Queensland Nick Matthews said following extensive trial work, vegetable growers now have access to a highly effective new fungicide option in a number of their crops.
Luna Experience is now registered for control of gummy stem blight and powdery mildew in cucurbits, plus powdery mildew in tomatoes and capsicums, and suppression of white rot in bulb vegetables, including onions.
With the fungicide already registered and used in a wide range of crops, including selected fruit, pyrethrum, and tree nut crops, Mr Matthews said the effectiveness of Luna Experience is already widely known across the horticultural industry, but is now set to help even more growers – a win for both farmers and consumers.
Mr Matthews trialled Luna Experience at Bowen on a plot of rockmelons – a plant he says best shows the efficacy of the fungicide due to its susceptibility to gummy stem blight, which is a serious fungal disease that can affect all of the aboveground parts of cucurbit crops.
With conducive conditions for disease development experienced throughout the trial period, he said the trial showed that Luna Experience performed extremely well in comparison to the other fungicide options that have been available to the industry.
“The trial had two replicates with five treatments, comparing Luna Experience to three other local standards, plus an untreated.
“All treatments had two applications, nine days apart. The untreated plots in this trial showed a high incidence and severity of gummy stem, showing up mainly as leaf lesions.
“All the treatments reduced disease incidence and severity, with Luna Experience displaying disease control as good as or better than the other treatments.”
To confirm his findings, an interactive trial assessment was made, whereby a group of agronomists and growers delved into the trial and pulled apart the product differences that may not have been picked up with a superficial inspection.
They assessed each rockmelon plot without knowing the treatments and recorded their findings on an online platform.
“The results were uploaded and collated with others in the group, and the summary was fed back in almost real time,” Mr Matthews said.
“This allowed the group to view and discuss the results with the knowledge they had contributed in an unbiased way to the data. The feedback on the gummy stem control was very positive.”
With Luna Experience receiving the tick of approval from agronomists and growers, Mr Matthews said there’s no denying it is set to be a game changer for industry.
“As a co-formulation of fluopyram (SDHI, Group 7) and tebuconazole (DMI, Group 3), Luna Experience uses the power of two fungicide modes of action to not only control key fungal pathogens, but also reduce the chance of resistance build-up and preserve the chemistry.”
He said the new registrations are well supported and backed by not only his trial work, but also findings from other trials that were conducted both in Australia and overseas, making Luna Experience a powerful new tool for farmers.
“Luna Experience is highly active against gummy stem blight, as seen in trial work in Australia and overseas.
“This fungicide provides efficacy either better than, or equal to, other commercial fungicides, and the active ingredients work well together to control key diseases.
“With a 1-day domestic withholding period and up to three applications per year, it will help farmers grow their best produce yet.”
