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In an unusual transaction, BASF is allowing Bayer to use triticonazole, an active ingredient that BASF had acquired from Bayer after Bayer had purchased it from Aventis. |
In a rare joint press release, BASF Crop Protection announced that it was providing Bayer Environmental Science with limited access to triticonazole fungicide for use on turf and ornamental landscapes in the United States and Canada. According to BASF spokesman Tom Hill, the company will retain exclusive rights for use of triticonazole on production ornamentals in greenhouse and nursery settings. Bayer will be providing triticonazole to the turf and landscape ornamental market, including golf, professional sports turf, landscaping and professional lawn care. BASF says that triticonazole will remain a key component of the company’s fungicide strategy, and the company is continuing to invest in the development of triticonazole.
Triticonazole is the active ingredient in Trinity, a fungicide that BASF introduced to the turf market in early 2007. BASF acquired triticonazole from Bayer after Bayer had purchased the fungicide as part of its takeover of Aventis Crop- Science in 2002. The Chipco line of products was part of the Aventis holdings, and triticonazole was the active ingredient in the fungicide Chipco Triton. Josh Weeks, vice president for professional products for Bayer and the former vice president of Aventis Environmental Science’s Chipco Professional Products group, was quoted in the press release as saying, “We are excited about the addition of Chipco Triton to our market-leading fungicide portfolio. This agreement allows Bayer to bring an even broader range of valued chemistry to our customers.”
Besides being targeted to a different audience, how will the Bayer product differ from BASF’s Trinity? The most obvious difference is that Trinity is a liquid formulation (a suspension concentrate, according to its label) and Chipco Triton will be a water-dispersible granule. Bayer is suggesting that Chipco Triton be tank-mixed or used sequentially with either Chipco Signature or Tartan, which both contain the company’s proprietary StressGard technology. According to Bayer’s fungicides manager, Mike Daly, “StressGard makes plants better able to withstand stress so that the fungicide can work better and turf quality is improved.”
Both BASF and Bayer tout triticonazole as a replacement for older fungicides that require higher application rates for the product to be effective. In contrast to older fungicides, triticonazole has extremely low use rates. For example, for anthracnose, Trinity has a use rate of 0.5 to 1.0 fluid ounce of product/1,000 square feet. Chipco Triton has the lowest use rates of any DMI fungicide on the market, with 0.15 to 0.3 ounce/1,000 square feet for preventive applications or light to moderate disease pressure and 0.225 to 0.6 ounce for curative applications or heavy disease pressure.
At press time, Bayer was expecting Chipco Triton to receive EPA approval in mid-February. If the product is registered on schedule, it could be available to superintendents by late spring.
Two new turfgrass management-specific degrees at SUNY Cobleskill have been approved by the New York State Education Department. The Bachelor of Technology in Turfgrass Management: Golf Turf Management focuses on the production and maintenance of different specialty grasses for greens, fairways and tees of golf courses. The Bachelor of Technology in Turfgrass Management: Sports Turf Management deals with the cultivation and management of specialty grasses for sports fields and recreation areas. Previously, the school’s turfgrass management courses had been treated as a concentration under Plant Science. At the recent Crop Science Society of America’s annual meeting, the Turfgrass Breeders Association presented awards to graduate students in the field. In the breeding/cultivar selection category, oral presentation, first place went to Jonathan La Mantia, Penn State; Virginia Sykes, Virginia Tech, won second; and Brian Schwartz took third place. |
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