New seed treatment available for winter cereals this autumn

Next generation seed treatment Kinto Plus – which protects against a range of diseases – will be available for use on winter cereals this autumn.

The treatment provides long-lasting efficacy against a wide spectrum of seed and soil borne diseases – and confers growth promoting effects to the crop, says manufacturer BASF.

Kinto Plus assures comprehensive and long-lasting efficacy – whether applied to farm saved seed, hybrid, conventional, or seed production crops, helping growers secure higher yields from the outset, says seed market manager Sarah Middleton.

“The name Kinto may be familiar to some – from previous seed treatment Kinto which is no longer available to market since the revocation of prochloraz – but Kinto Plus is a different, new generation product.”

Disease control

Kinto Plus combines the active ingre- dients triticonazole, fluxapyroxad and fludioxonil. This gives it a broad label against a range of diseases including seedling blight and foot rot, common bunt, loose smut, covered smut, leaf stripe, snow rot and stripe smut.

Mrs Middleton says: “The control of leaf stripe and loose smut, which can be seen as forgotten diseases, are key attributes of Kinto Plus – particularly for seed production crops, where there are tolerances for infection levels of these diseases.”

The seed treatment is said to improve germination and enhance root development – both in terms of mass and length – particularly during times of stress. This means quicker crop establishment, better tiller retention and more vigorous plants.

BASF says independent trials have shown that the product performs consistently no matter what the winter cereal crop – or the variety. Kinto Plus is also approved for use on barley seed in crops destined for brewing.

Built-in resilience

Treated seed is able to continue growing in sub-optimal conditions. This makes it a useful tool, particularly for growers who practice delayed drilling because it performs well whatever the sowing date.

“Stale seed bed techniques used to deal with arable weed pressures mean drilling dates are often moved back, resulting in shorter weather windows for establishment, at a time when ground conditions are often challenging,” says Mrs Middleton.