Source: Sonja Begemann, Ag Professional 

Pending EPA registration, FMC will launch Lucento fungicide for use in corn, soybeans, peanuts, wheat and sugarbeets for the 2019 season. The new fungicide is a combination of flutriafol and bixafen active ingredients.

In corn, the fungicide has efficacy against northern corn leaf blight, gray leaf spot and southern rust. In soybeans, the fungicide is active against strobilurin-resistant frogeye leaf spot, Asian soybean rust, cercospora leaf blight and septoria brown spot. Wheat is protected from powdery mildew and rust; and in peanuts, it guards against leaf spot and white mold.

Lucento’s active ingredients represent Group 3 and a Group 7 fungicide classes. The company is encouraging farmers to practice resistance management strategies, such as multiple modes of action, to ensure long-term defense against pathogens.

“We have to manage diseases and pathogens like we do weeds, and we’re seeing more strobilurin resistance,” says Matthew Wiggins, technical service manager for FMC. “We don’t spray resistant weeds with a product they’re resistant to. [With fungicides] we have to make sure we choose [fungicide] products with activity, too.”

The new fungicide isn’t registered for sale in the U.S. yet, as it’s pending federal and state registrations. FMC says it consistently outperforms competing fungicides and acts as a good resistance-management option for strobilurin fungicides.