Features Herbicides Seed & Chemical
INDUSTRY NEWS: April 2007

Just prior to spring, Top Crop Manager
contacts agricultural suppliers for information on new pesticide registrations
and other news. New products offer opportunities for pest control. But remember,
many other well-proven products are still on the market. Registration status
may change between press-time and season of use. Top Crop Manager advises
producers to check labels and provincial pest control manuals carefully. -30-

Herbicides
Bromotril is a new entry in the bromoxynil
market. It is a Group 6 product from United Agri Products, like others (e.g.
Pardner, Koril) registered to control broadleaf weeds in wheat, barley, corn,
oats and bromoxynil tolerant canola, flax, fall rye, canary grass, triticale,
garlic, seedling alfalfa, seedling grasses, forage sorghum and forage millet.

BASF has introduced its newest, broad spectrum herbicide, Altitude
FX. Custom designed for the Clearfield production system for wheat,
the herbicide delivers one-pass control of all major grassy weeds as well as
broadleaf weeds like lamb's quarters, wild mustard, stinkweed, redroot pigweed,
shepherd's purse, flixweed, volunteer canola, volunteer flax, cow cockle, cocklebur,
common burdock, prickly lettuce, vetch, wild radish, annual sunflower, common
ragweed, chickweed, cleavers, hempnettle, as well as heavy populations of kochia
and wild buckwheat.

Another benefit of this product is its extended application window of the three
to six leaf stages, says the company.

Grassy weeds controlled include green foxtail, yellow foxtail, wild oats, Persian
darnel, barnyard grass, volunteer barley, volunteer canaryseed, volunteer durum
wheat, volunteer spring wheat (non Clearfield wheat only) and volunteer tame
oats.

Dow AgroSciences Canada has assumed marketing responsibility from Syngenta
Crop Protection Canada for Liquid Achieve
in western Canada.

Liquid Achieve is a Group 1 grassy weed herbicide that controls wild oats,
green foxtail, Persian darnel and barnyard grass in spring and winter wheat,
durum and barley. Broadleaf weed control tank-mix products include Attain, Prestige,
Curtail M and Trophy, plus Buctril M, Mextrol, Estaprop and Thumper.

Previously registered as a pre-seed burndown and in chemfallow programs, PrePass
has now received registration for post-harvest application.

"In post-harvest application trials, PrePass offered better control of
broadleaf weeds, including winter annuals like narrow-leaved hawk's beard, stinkweed,
shepherd's purse and flixweed as well as perennial broadleaf weeds like dandelion,
compared with registered rates of straight glyphosate," says Mark Woloshy,
Dow AgroSciences glyphosate product manager.

Its SoilActive technology improves control of perennial and winter annuals
and broadleaf weeds prior to seeding wheat, barley or oats. PrePass combines
two modes of action. This combination of two complementary molecules works on
annual grasses, perennial broadleaf and winter annual broadleaf weeds at application
and continues to work longer than other post-harvest weed control products and
tank-mixes, says the company.

This longer post-harvest activity will control a second flush of winter annual
weeds in the fall, prevent them from over-wintering and reduce their impact
in the spring. This can provide more flexible timing for in-crop herbicide applications
and the potential for reduced in-crop herbicide costs.

The PMRA has approved L1700 as a deposition
aid and drift reduction agent for use with glyphosate in Canada. This marks
the culmination of 10 years of research and development on the benefits of this
exceptional chemistry, says United Agri Products.

L1700 was first introduced to the Canadian market as a penetrating surfactant
and a pH reducer. With advances in herbicide tolerant crops and pre-seed burndown,
spray drift of glyphosate has become an issue. This new registration will allow
growers to use L1700 to reduce the risk of spray drift by modifying the spray
droplet size and by reducing the number of small droplets that are prone to
drifting off-target.

L1700's formulation reduces the number of fine droplets without increasing
the number of very large droplets in the spray pattern: large droplets tend
to hit the target plant and bounce or slide off onto the soil surface. By increasing
the number of droplets in the medium size range, the risk of spray drift is
reduced and more of the herbicide is deposited on the leaf surface to control
the weeds that are being targetted.

There is a new herbicide entry into the sugar beet market: Etho
SC herbicide from UPI and UAP is a new alternative to the currently
registered product (Nortron) in the market today. Etho SC is registered to control
a wide range of broadleaf and grassy weeds including wild buckwheat, Russian
thistle and black nightshade.

Fungicides
Stratego is a new fungicide from Bayer CropScience
for use in wheat, barley and oats. It has two modes of action: propiconazole
(Group 3) and trifloxystrobin (Group 1) to control net blotch, powdery mildew,
tan spot, leaf and stem stripe and crown rusts, scald and septoria on barley,
oats, wheat and durum. The company says Stratego may also be tank-mixed with
some herbicides for canopy disinfection.

The 3/4 rate of Folicur has been submitted for registration. Bayer CropScience
expects this to be approved before the growing season

Canadian canola growers now have access to Proline,
a new fungicide for sclerotinia protection. Bayer CropScience's Proline contains
the active ingredient prothioconazole and belongs to a new subclass triazole
of the chemistry called triazolinthiones. The company says the product has demonstrated
yield results that average 18 percent over untreated checks and 10 percent over
current market leading canola fungicides.

BASF has expanded its disease management offerings with metconazole, one of
the triazole family of fungicides, for protective and curative treatment of
foliar diseases in cereals, corn, soybeans and sugar beets. Submission to Canadian
regulatory authorities will be made in 2007, says BASF.

The company's Headline now has registration
for use against Asian soybean rust in soybeans, dry beans and peas.

Starting this year, BASF's Charter cereal
seed treatment will be sold under the terms of a new registration which specifies
a new use rate of 300mL diluted product per 100kg of seed. As a result of this
new registration, Charter will offer even better control of key diseases including
seedborne Fusarium spp. (seed rot and seedling blight) as well as the
addition of Cochliobolus (suppression) to its label.

In addition to these diseases, it provides excellent control of other key diseases
in wheat, barley and oats including common bunt, true loose smut and covered
smut.