Greener leaves, and feed when you need it most

Crop protection company ADAMA New Zealand has released a beet foliar fungicide, which not only supports greener, healthier and more vigorous leaves, but also provides greater grazing flexibility in situations when there is pressure on feed supply.

New Custodia^® has a withholding period of just 28 days compared with the previous industry standard of 42 days.

Custodia is effective against foliar diseases in both fodder and sugar beet including powdery mildew, rust, and the major fungal pathogen Cercospora leaf spot, which can cause significant yield losses if unchecked. Custodia is compatible with a range of commonly used plant protection products.

Strong beet leaf production important

ADAMA New Zealand Marketing Manager Elisabeth Johnston says beet producers are increasingly recognising the importance of leaf quality. While the focus was previously often more on bulb weight, poor leaf health has a perceptible knock-on effect. “When the leaves are diseased, there’s reduced photosynthesis. That, in turn, has an impact on crop growth, yield, leaf palatability, and feed quality.”

Strong beet leaf production adds to the dry matter of a crop and provides grazing stock with protein, phosphorous and calcium. Elisabeth says the protein from healthy leaves helps provide nutritional balance in beet crops, reducing the risk of metabolic issues. “It will not be enough on its own, but it definitely does help.”

Trials confirm powerful control

Custodia’s release follows dry spells and droughts in some regions, which impacted feed-budgeting, encouraging farmers and advisors to weigh up their options.

Bryce Simpson, ADAMA New Zealand Commercial Manager, says Custodia did a “fantastic” job in the company’s trials. “You could see the textbook, checkerboard effect between the treated and untreated plots. The foliage on the treated plots was clean of disease and a healthy green with a significantly greater number and volume of leaves.”

Short withholding period is key

Bryce says high value beet provides farmers with a flexible feed option. “The potential grazing or harvest window for beet is quite wide. And when a farmer needs to get as much feed as they can per hectare, then fodder beet is a good choice.”

Bryce says a shorter withholding period is a big factor when feed is tight. “Two weeks when feed is short can be like a lifetime.”

Extensive beet protection toolbox

ADAMA New Zealand has an extensive beet protection toolbox with Custodia being one of two products launched recently. The other is Goltix^® Gold. This beet herbicide has a unique formulation which reduces the hazard profile without compromising the proven efficacy in controlling hard-to-kill weeds of its industry-standard parent Goltix Flo. In fact, it is even more effective on fathen and wireweed.

Controlling aphids to tackle beet yellow virus

With beet yellow virus becoming a significant issue, particularly in Canterbury, insecticide Pyrinex^® 500EC , is also part of the specialist beet portfolio. Pyrinex 500EC can be used to control aphids, which transmit the virus in beet.

Other products in the ADAMA beet programme include; Goltix WG Herbicide, Goltix Uno Herbicide, Ethosat^® Herbicide, and Rifle^®.

Rifle is a co-formulation of two synergistic, beet-selective herbicides, phenmedipham and desmedipham. The herbicide is one of the few post-emergence options that provide robust weed control at the beet cotyledon stage without impacting on crop vigour. The specially developed SE formulation enables Rifle to be applied earlier than some other products without damaging the delicate beet plants.

All ADAMA beet products have been rigorously tested and refined to complement New Zealand growing conditions and beet varieties and are backed by robust trial results.