Elatus Delivers Exceptional Disease Protection in Peanuts

The U.S. has a passion for peanuts, according to the Department of Agriculture’s latest data. The average American consumes roughly 6 pounds of peanut products each year. With growers in 13 states producing more than 4 million metric tons of peanuts annually, the protein-rich crop is also critical to the nation’s agriculture industry. Peanut exports alone generate close to $250 million a year.

Given that this important crop is grown in warm, oftentimes humid environments, diseases are a constant threat to its economic outlook. It’s no wonder that the 2016 introduction of Elatus^® fungicide was big news for peanut growers, who have quickly adopted it as a significant tool for managing white mold and other diseases, while protecting yield.

“What we saw in 2016 was the start of a switch from the market standard to an Elatus program,” says Lyle Stewart, district sales manager for Syngenta.

Powered by two active ingredients, Solatenol^® fungicide—the latest succinate dehydrogenase inhibitor (SDHI) mode of action from Syngenta—and azoxystrobin, Elatus offers peanut growers broad-spectrum disease control with long-lasting residual power. It has excellent preventive activity against tough peanut diseases, including white mold, early and late leaf spot, Rhizoctonia and rust.

Wide Window of Opportunity

The long residual activity of Elatus gives peanut growers more application flexibility to work around weather and farm schedules. Wilson Faircloth, Ph.D., agronomy service representative for Syngenta, finds this attribute to be one of the biggest benefits of the fungicide.

“You’re not locked into dedicated spray schedules with Elatus,” says Faircloth. “It also helps with managing unpredictable weather events. If you miss a spray, now you have a little flexibility, and you’re not caught in a bind. You have the option to go a little longer, because you get more residual activity from Elatus than other peanut fungicides.”

"Some growers have told me they grew their best crop ever in 2016 and attributed part of that success to including Elatus in their rotations. I have high expectations for Elatus in 2017."

Eddie Bunch, a consultant with Virginia Carolina Agricultural Services, recommended Elatus throughout 2016 and noticed that his growers were able to spray less often and still see excellent disease control.

“Instead of spraying every two weeks like clockwork, now they’re spraying more along the lines of once every three weeks,” says Bunch. “They’re letting me scout to see what kind of disease pressure there is and then going from there. That’s one of the biggest factors I like about Elatus—it’s doing a great job of controlling disease, and we’re getting some longevity out of it.”

Enhanced White Mold Control

Elatus performed especially well in 2016 because the white mold pressure was unusually high in some areas. Thriving in hot, humid conditions, this yield-robbing disease is a serious concern in the southeastern U.S.

“One of the reasons white mold is such a hard disease to control is because it’s found right at the soil surface,” says Faircloth. “It’s a challenge because you’ve got to get the fungicide down to where the disease is to give the plant the greatest benefit.”

Unlike many fungicides, Elatus does not depend on rain or irrigation to deliver efficacy at the soil level in dryland fields. Even without watering it in, Elatus—through systemic activity and the potency of its SDHI chemistry—provides excellent activity against white mold.

Often the risk of white mold is higher on irrigated land due to moisture, but Faircloth saw similarly positive results in trials comparing the fungicide’s performance on dryland and irrigated fields. “It proves that we don’t have to have irrigation to move the product down into the plant,” he says. “Elatus seems to be getting where it needs to be and doing its job with our regular foliar sprays. Growers aren’t having to be so quick on the trigger with irrigation or sit there hoping it’s going to rain.”

Bunch, who scouts almost 10,000 acres of peanuts, most of which are grown on irrigated fields, encouraged his growers to treat all of them with Elatus in 2016.

“It’s normally late July when we really start seeing a lot of white mold, especially on the irrigated peanuts,” he says. “But Elatus did a really good job controlling that disease.”

In addition to irrigation, temperatures also play a big role in white mold development. With more 90°F-plus days in 2016 than he could remember in years past, Stewart noticed an increase in white mold pressure. “Not only did Elatus perform extremely well, but it did so under more difficult conditions than we’ve had in recent years,” he says.

Looking to the Future

“Some growers have told me they grew their best crop ever in 2016 and attributed part of that success to including Elatus in their rotations,” Faircloth says. “I have high expectations for Elatus in 2017.”

After seeing how well it performed in 2016, Bunch plans to continue recommending Elatus to his growers in southeast Virginia and northeast North Carolina. “I’ll be suggesting that everything I scout gets treated with Elatus,” he says.

Growers and consultants like Bunch can look forward to another fungicide innovation, coming soon from Syngenta. Adepidyn^® fungicide is a new, potent active ingredient with carboxamide chemistry for treatment of yield-reducing foliar diseases, including leaf spot in peanuts. Upon registration by the Environmental Protection Agency, Adepidyn will be marketed as Miravis^® fungicide.

Better disease control translates into better-quality crops, and that’s good news for all Americans, whose penchant for peanuts shows no signs of waning.