Proline to Fill Barley Gap

With the real possibility of Fandango (prothioconazole + fluoxastrobin) not being available early in the season, manufacturer Bayer is making additional volumes of Proline (prothioconazole) for the Barley market.

After some unexpected problems with the quality of the Fandango formulation last season Bayer CropScience has fully investigated the process and identified several factors which are likely to have combined to cause the problem. According to campaign manager Dr Alison Daniels, Bayer is to make changes to its production, as well as formulation and packing process in 2010.

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“The issues experienced last year were very specific to Fandango and didn’t affect any other products in our range,” says Dr Daniels.

“The product will be produced close to the usage period, and as we want to be 100% sure that farmers get the quality formulation they have always been used to, it is unlikely that Fandango will be available early in the season in 2010,” she explains.

To counter this, the company has committed to increase its early season production of Proline. “Nothing matches the broad spectrum performance, simplicity and return on investment of Fandango, which makes it the most popular of all barley fungicides.

“However, provided growers use a minimum of 50% label dose of Proline (100g/ha of prothioconazole) as a base, and select an appropriate mixing partner for stewardship, they can be confident of excellent disease control.”

The company has released guidelines for Proline mix partners (wwww.bayercropscience.co.uk/fandango), for use until Fandango becomes available.

“We appreciate any inconvenience caused by the lack of early season Fandango supply and can only apologise to those affected. However, when combined with appropriate partner chemistry for resistance management, Proline offers growers the best alternative, and prothioconazole outperforms any other current and new chemistry. The best advice for Barley is to use Prothioconazole as the foundation of your programme,” concludes Dr Daniels.