New Fungicide Takes on Fruit and Vegetable Diseases Like No Other

Sym-Agro has introduced ProBlad Verde as an innovative new biochemical fungicide that leverages the naturally occurring BLAD polypeptide for a “never-before-seen,” multi-site mode of action that controls fungal diseases on fruits and vegetables.

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Working on contact, tissue absorption, and having translaminar properties, ProBlad Verde is said to be able to bind to the fungal chitin structures, disturbing the cell walls and cell membrane, and enters into the fungus cell. This action starts a chain of events that disrupts nutrient absorption, ends cellular reproduction, and ultimately destroys the fungal cell, all within eight hours of contact, according to Sym-Agro.

“ProBlad Verde has proven to be a strong biological fungicide for vegetables and other crops, demonstrating performance better than or equal to industry-standard traditional fungicides in more than five years of field trials,” said Sym-Agro President Peter Bierma in a news release. “The technology is so revolutionary that a new FRAC group code (‘BM 01’) was created for ProBlad Verde’s active ingredient.”

What makes ProBlad Verde unique is that unlike other contact fungicides, it quickly absorbs into treated plant tissue and has shown translaminar properties. The result is up to 7 days of reach-back activity and up to 14 days of disease prevention. When applied close to harvest, this protection helps produce resist fungal attack during shipping and storage.

ProBlad Verde fungicide recently obtained OMRI organic listing, is MRL exempt, and has a one-day pre-harvest interval and four-hour re-entry interval. Ecotoxicology studies for regulatory compliance have shown that ProBlad Verde has minimal toxicity to adult bees, bee larvae, beneficial parasitic wasps, and predatory mites.

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Field trials have demonstrated efficacy on a broad spectrum of difficult-to-control diseases such as botrytis, powdery mildew, white mold, gummy stem blight, and others.

ProBlad Verde is effective on a wide range of commercial crops including tomatoes, grapes, almonds, and strawberries. The recent label expansion includes fruiting vegetables, stone fruit, pome fruit, cucurbits, and hops. Additional crop uses are expected in the next 12 months.

For more information, visit Sym-Agro.com.

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