The products will be available to Canadian farmers for the 2023 growing season
By Diego Flammini
Staff Writer
Farms.com
Corteva Agriscience is bringing two new corn protection products to Canadian farmers.
Beginning in 2023, Corteva’s LumiGEN seed treatment package will contain two new products available exclusively on Brevant seeds and Pioneer brand genetics.
The first, Lumialza, is a nematicide seed treatment, said Kirsten Ratzlaff, product manager for seed applied technology with Corteva.
“It’s a biological nematicide seed treatment,” she told Farms.com. “It’s a very unique product that is going to provide a lot of value to Canadian corn growers. It protects against those yield-robbing nematodes that can damage the root system.”
The list of nematodes Lumialza controls includes sting, lance and stubby-root.
The active component in the seed treatment is Bacillus amyloliquefaciens, a naturally occurring soil bacteria.
The product works by colonizing the roots to form a physical biological barrier from nematode attack and causes paralysis of juvenile nematodes.
“Lumialza will protect for up to 80 days, so throughout many lifecycles of the nematode population,” Ratzlaff said. “And it will grow with the root system as the plant grows to ensure the entire root system is getting that level of protection.”
Corteva is running multiple Lumialza trials across Canada.
Early indications show the product works well to protect crops and provide additional benefits.
“What we’ve seen is that Lumialza will increase the overall vigor and biomass of the plant,” she said. “We’re seeing far more developed and advanced root system, larger and wider shoots on the corn plant and quite often a greener plant. It’s quite visual early on.”
The second product Corteva is bringing to market for 2023 is Lumiscend Pro.
This fungicide seed treatment is part of the new LumiGEN corn fungicide seed treatment package.
It combines four active ingredients (Group 3, 4, 7 and 22) to provide production against pythium, rhizoctonia, fusarium and corn head smut.
The product “is going to provide outstanding protection for corn growers,” Ratzlaff said.
Photo caption: Corn treated with LumiGEN corn treatment on the right, and a standard treatment on the left. (Corteva photo)