BASF Canada has picked up emergency-use registration for farmers to use Headline fungicide against sunflower rust.
The temporary registration from Health Canada’s Pest Management Regulatory Agency (PMRA) “comes at a very critical time for sunflower growers,” Darcelle Graham, executive director of the National Sunflower Association of Canada (NSAC), said in a BASF release Wednesday.
“With the wet weather experienced in Manitoba this season, the environmental conditions are prime for disease, so this registration is welcome news to sunflower growers right across the province.”
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Early rust infections in sunflowers can cut yields by anywhere from 25 to 50 per cent, the company said. citing Manitoba’s provincial crop disease survey as saying sunflower rust was present in 74 per cent of surveyed fields in 2008.
There are no other foliar fungicides currently registered for sunflower rust control in Canada, Wayne Barton, the company’s brand manager for fungicides, noted in Wednesday’s release.
“This is great news for sunflower growers who still have time to protect their crop from this tough-to-manage disease and improve their yield.”
The registration was made possible through BASF’s co-operation with Manitoba’s agriculture department and with NSAC, headquartered at Carman, Man., the company said.
