18th April 2007

Start with Adagio and build your blight programme from there

Early protection of potatoes against blight as soon as the crop comes through the ground is essential, as there is always plenty of inoculum from volunteers and potato dumps ready to take hold. Combining two strong protectant multi-site actives, mancozeb and chlorothalonil, Adagio provides a sure start to the blight programme, with the certainty that it will control all strains of the disease,” according to Dr David Stormonth, Technical Manager of Interfarm UK Ltd.

“Adagio is suitable for use alone from the rosette stage onwards early in the season, at rapid growth stage mixed with a systemic partner and at maximum canopy mixed with a curative, such as cymoxanil. It is a particularly useful partner for cymoxanil as it adds some zoospore control and hence contributes some protection against tuber blight. This comes from the soil residual activity profile of chlorothalonil, which is similar to that of fluazinam,” reminds Dr. Stormonth.

“Adagio is an easy to use liquid formulation with excellent rainfastness and growers who have used it have commented favourably on its sprayability. When you have a large area of potatoes to cover in a short time, a liquid blight product takes some beating. Accepted on all major protocols including Nature’s Choice, Adagio has flexible dose rates and spray intervals to suit different situations. The recommended dose rates are 2.4 to 3.2 l/ha alone down to 1 l/ha in mixture, according to crop stage and disease pressure,” says David.

Adagio is a multi-sited product, interrupting many different stages in the blight life cycle by interfering with many different metabolic processes in the fungal cell. Consequently there will be no problem with resistance and this makes Adagio is a useful product to integrate into an anti-resistance programme.

“Adagio sprayed regularly in programmes at appropriate spray intervals remains an excellent low cost option for foliar and tuber blight protection, whilst the crop also receives 130 gms/ha nutritional manganese from the mancozeb which helps it maintain green leaf area for longer and bulk up more effectively. Adagio is aptly named as it means music that builds slowly and steadily. A blight programme that starts with Adagio builds slowly, but surely, to protect the crop as it grows and to ensure a high yielding and high quality conclusion at harvest,” concludes David.

Adagio contains 210 gms/litre chlorothalonil and 274 gms/litre mancozeb in a user-friendly flowable formulation.

For further comment and information, please contact Dr. David Stormonth, Technical Manager, Interfarm (UK) Ltd. on 01354 741414 or 07818 036506 (mobile).