Life in Life Scientific…

November Newsletter

UK News:

Don’t forget to come and see us at the CropTec event at the East of England Showground this month.

We are exhibiting on stand number 1.31 in hall 1.

UK and IE Country Manager Ruth Stanley will be joined by Efficacy Specialist Sam Gorny and Principle Scientist for product characterisation Rachel Staunton so come and chat to us about the work we do and about our two new products for next spring. Kaskad a reverse engineered Debut for weed control in sugar beet and Sudo Mor our reverse engineered Moddus for plant growth regulation in cereals.

We’ll also have a tombola with the opportunity to win some great prizes on the day.

We look forrward to seeing you there.

Product News:

Niantic, the post emergence herbicide containing 30 g/kg mesosulfuron-methyl + 6 g/kg iodosulfuron-methyl-sodium is a reverse engineered Atlantis WG and can be used this autumn in crops of winter wheat as part of a programmed approach to control grass and broad leaved weeds.

Mild temperatures and showery conditions have caused weed emergence as pre em’s have started to run out of ste

am. Use Niantic at 0.4kg/ha plus authorised adjuvant either Probe or Biopower, while weeds are small and actively growing. Apply product in 200l/ha water up to growth stage 39.

It can be used to tackle, not just black-grass, but other problematic weeds such as wild oats, meadow-grasses and chickweed.

Take care when applying any grass weed products, aim to achieve the highest application standards to improve weed control and prevent resistance build up.

For more product information visit the website: NIANTIC

Barley Yellow Dwarf Virus

Barley Yellow Dwarf Virus (BYDV) affects crops of wheat, barley, oats, rye and triticale.

It is the most widely distributed and economically important viral disease. Reported yield losses range between 30% and 60% in wheat and 50% to 75% in barley.

BYDV is transmitted by the Bird Cherry aphid (left) and the Grain aphid (right)

The virus used to be a lower risk in the UK but following the loss of Neonicotinoid seed dressings it is becoming more common. Add to that a warm and early drilling season such as autumn 2021 and BYDV is almost a certainty.

An aphid will carry the disease for its entire life once it has been infected by feeding on a plant already carrying the virus. Aphids fly into the crop and will feed on cereal foliage or the roots.

Significant infection occurs when second generation aphids feed and move out from the initial infection point.

Infected plants grow slowly and the youngest leaves will start to discolour. Later in the season plants are stunted and yellow patches appear, distributed throughout the field. Aphid reproduction is governed by temperature and chemical control should be targeted at second generation aphids to have maximum impact.

Regular field walking, the use of sticky traps and one of the several T-sum monitoring tools can be used to ensure that chemical application is targeted at the correct timing.

There are several sources of information for working out the best application timing for insecticide treatments. AHDB report on regional monitoring sites for aphid activity and publish regular updates at https://ahdb.org.uk/bydv

Advice on how to calculate the T-sum 170 day degrees threshold is also given on the AHDB website.

The T-sum is based on the date of crop emergence and the daily air temperature and provides guidance on when insecticide treatment should be considered, although this should not replace the need for physical crop inspection.

Insecticides, when used alone rather in than in a tank mix, are best used with a wetter as the low product rate is not sufficient to wet the leaf or aphid prope

rly. Application expert Tom Robinson’s rule of thumb on insecticide application is “For water to wet a leaf, one needs 0.1% non-ionic wetter 200ml in 200l water hence a single product at 50 ml/ha cannot wet the surface properly”

Tom also suggests forward and backwards facing nozzles to ensure maximum coverage of the target, a boom height of 50cm above the crop and sprayer forward speeds of 12-14k.

Correct product choice is essential due to the limited opportunities going into the autumn. Lambdastar contains 100g/l of lamb

da-cyhalothrin and should be used at the full rate of 50ml/ha. The highest risk of crop damage is in the early stages of de

velopment so applications should be made before GS 32 where possible.

As part of our research into how to deal with the BYDV risk in cereals this Autumn, following the loss of neonicotinoid seed dressings and dealing with Cabbage Stem Flea Beetle in OSR crops, Life Scientific commissioned Agrochemex to carry out an insecticide knockdown and persistence study in a replicated glasshouse trial.

A sensitive population of aphids (Aphis fabae) were introduced to bean plants, which were then sprayed with lambda-cyhalothrin insecticide.

Plants were sprayed with either Life Scientific’s Lambdastar or Hallmark Zeon at a rate of 50ml in 200 litres of water.

Aphids were then counted at 3, 7 and 14 days after application.

As expected, no significant differences were apparent between Lambdastar or Hallmark Zeon in terms of knockdown or persistency, however it’s always good to receive confirmation of product comparability between Lambdastar and the reference product.

November Newsletter

Life in Life Scientific…

October Newsletter 

This month we’re starting to see more evidence of getting back to business both in Life Scientific and further afield. Travel to our offices in different countries has resumed for colleagues and Life Scientific welcomed an ISO auditor on site. We’re pleased to report it went well!

CropTec is back for 2021 and we are excited to announce that we will be exhibiting there again at the East of England Showground on November 24th and 25th.

If you want to find out how cutting-edge R&D is bringing better quality off-patent crop protection products to market, come and speak to us at the show, we’ll be in Hall 1.

There will be an opportunity to talk to the team and take part in our Tombola!

We look forward to seeing you there

Product News

Historically seed treatments provided good protection from Barley Yellow Dwarf Virus (BYDV). Now that those treatments are gone, we are relying on cultural control methods and pyrethroid insecticides such as Lambdastar.

Lambdastar, our reverse engineered Hallmark Zeon containing 100g/l lambda-cyhalothrin should be applied to target second generation aphids as these are likely to move away from the plant originally colonised. Use a BYDV management tool or the 170 day degree model to ensure accurate timing. For best application technique, if using the product alone rather than in a fungicide or herbicide mix, use with a non-organo-silicone non-ionic wetter to get maximum efficacy.

Total dose of Lambdastar approved on wheat and barley crops is 200ml used before late milk stage GS 77 and an individual dose of 50ml/ha.

For more product information visit the website:

https://lifescientific.com/products/uk/lambdastar-uk/

Early Weed Control In Cereals

With a large acreage of wheat still to drill, particularly in areas with high black-grass populations, considerations turn to early weed control and which herbicide options to choose.

Firestarter contains 400g/l flufenacet and 100g/l diflufenican and is a reverse engineered Liberator. Firestarter has a proven track record for efficacy equivalence and reliable performance.

Firestarter can be used pre or post emergence in both winter wheat or barley crops at 0.6 l/ha up to 31st March in the year of harvest (GS23).

As flufenacet is currently the strongest active against black-grass control it should be an essential ingredient in any grass weed control programme. With black-grass control there is very little room for error, so it’s important to know that the products being applied in the programme are proven and effective.

Replicated field trials have been carried out over the last three years by the team at Prime Crop Research Ltd in order to demonstrate the efficacy and crop safety of Firestarter when used alone and as part of a programme with other herbicides.

The bar chart above shows the percentage of black-grass seed head reduction at three different trial sites over the last three years.

When Firestarter is used in a mixture with Avadex, trials show a 95.6% reduction in black-grass head numbers.

Firestarter also controls a number of other weeds both at pre and post emergence.

October Newsletter 

Life in Life Scientific…

September Newsletter

The product briefing season is well underway. An opportunity to update growers and agronomists on life in Life Scientific, new products, new developments and best practise advice for the coming autumn season.

We have some new products as well as new uses with the addition of Extensions of Authorisation for Minor Uses (EAMUs) so if you haven’t requested a briefing yet, and would like to hear from us about our current portfolio, new registrations, label changes or just catch up for a chat, either in person or virtually, we’d be happy to hear from you.

Product News

Winter Linseed is gaining in popularity and increasing its UK acreage. It could be seen as an easier crop to manage in the autumn due to being unattractive to Cabbage Stem Flea Beetle and slugs.

Basilico is a reverse engineered Calisto and contains 100g/L of mesotrione providing excellent control for a range of broad leaved weeds.

Basilico was granted an Extension of Authorisation for Minor Use (EAMU) in crops of Linseed when used at the pre-emergence timing and can be applied once at a maximum rate of 1.5L/ha for control of Common chickweed, Fat-hen and Field pansy amongst other autumn germinating weeds.

The EAMU and further product details can be obtained from our website.

https://lifescientific.com/products/uk/basilico/

 Oilseed Rape Focus

Following the 15% reduction in oilseed rape crops harvested this year (AHDB planting survey 2021), on the back of an already declining cropping area from the previous year, this autumn has seen an upturn in planting due to near perfect establishment conditions for many.

Whilst warm, moist seedbeds provide the right conditions to get the crop started, the risks associated with growing OSR have not gone away.

Once the crop is in the ground it needs to be protected – preferably without large up-front costs but due to the increase in selling prices it’s more important than ever to provide the right protection to maximise yield.

Disease control in OSR is much more straightforward than pest control.

Phoma can sometimes be neglected as Light Leaf Spot takes the headlines, but phoma lesions can progress into quite damaging stem cankers which severely impact water and nutrient movement through the plant – impacting the plant’s ability to grow away from slugs, pigeons etc.

Early phoma infections on smaller plants can cause losses of up to 0.5t/ha so it’s important to prioritise smaller plants and apply a fungicide when treatment threshold levels are reached. Difenostar containing 250g/L difenconazole is a great option for phoma control without the up-front spend. The same level of disease control can be achieved with 2 applications of 0.25L/ha 3-4 weeks apart as a single dose of 0.5L/ha. If fresh symptoms are seen in late winter or early spring a second application of 0.5L/ha should be made.

Total dose of Difenostar on oilseed rape is 1L/ha. For more product information visit the website

https://lifescientific.com/products/uk/difenostar/

Although phoma is the most widespread early OSR disease, Light Leaf Spot is the most damaging in terms of yield with potential losses of up to 1t/ha

Earlier sown crops are at the greatest risk of Light Leaf Spot and reports show this disease is being found earlier and recycling quicker than previously thought.

It is important to protect crops in the autumn to prevent a more devastating reoccurrence of the disease in the spring. Fungicide applications should be prioritised for varieties which score below 6 on the Recommended List but all varieties are susceptible so need regular monitoring.

There are several regional forecasting tools which can help for effective application timing. A stacked triazole approach using both tebuconazole and prothioconazole provides protective and curative activity and reduces the reliance on solo prothioconazole as part of a resistance management strategy.

Esker is our reverse engineered Kestrel containing 160g/L prothioconazole and 80g/L tebuconazole. It is an excellent fungicide choice for the control of Light Leaf Spot and will also contribute to plant growth regulation and managing crop canopies in order to maximise yield.

We can’t talk about OSR autumn protection without mentioning Cabbage Stem Flea Beetle. Early sowing could be a way of preventing damage from Cabbage Stem Flea Beetle as larger crops may withstand a greater amount of insect damage.

However constant monitoring is needed until plants are big enough to grow away from early shot-holing damage.

Lambdastar our reverse engineered Hallmark Zeon, is a good option for pyrethroid sensitive CSFB. Lambdastar contains 100g/L lambda-cyhalothrin and should be used as part of an anti resistance strategy when thresholds are reached.  If using as a stand alone application a non-ionic wetter should be included to maximise efficacy.

September Newsletter

See our July newsletter for up to date news and information.

See our June newsletter for up to date news and information.

A group of German arable farmers have come to the UK to look at the methods that UK growers are taking to control black-grass.

Organised by Ruth Stanley, UK technical manager for Life Scientific, the key message for the German visitors was that UK growers could no longer depend solely on chemistry to control difficult black-grass due to extensive resistance, so a range of cultural methodologies was now essential to ensure optimum herbicide efficiency.

“We are seeing black-grass resistance creep into our crops, and we know that if we don’t do anything about it we will face similar issues, so we have a lot to learn from UK farmers,“ explained Stefan Knittel, German country manager for Life Scientific, who accompanied the visitors.

The 10 arable farmers are from the Shleswig Holstein region of northern Germany where the climate is fairly similar to that of the UK.

“We are near the sea so its mild and warm in winter, and we have plenty of moisture combined with heavy soils – so ideal conditions for black-grass to flourish.”

“Rotations in the region tend to be one in four; the key focus is wheat and usually also includes oilseed rape and a barley or maize spring crop. “

“By having the spring crop, many growers are able to keep on top of the black-grass to a degree, but we need to do more and this is what we hope to take away from this trip.”

“We also don’t have the levels of resistance to chemistry that face UK growers, so we would not need to rely on glyphosate to the same level for desiccation or stale seed beds.”

A morning spent on the 5000 ha Thurlow Estate on Cambridgeshire/Suffolk border where there is a zero black-grass tolerance provided a good starting point for the tour.

A normal black-grass herbicide programme on wheat would include pre and peri-emergence herbicides in the autumn and then, where required, a spring herbicide application, pointed out farm manager, Jonathan Drury.

However, he added that cultural methods of control are key to ensuring optimum herbicide efficacy, pointing out the range of cultural measures taken to combat black-grass at Thurlow which include:

• Wide rotation of seven years to include spring cropping
• Ploughing one year in seven which buries the seed, all other cultivations are shallow geared towards reducing any unnecessary movement of soil
• Traffic light system to determine when a field can be drilled. If a field has no black-grass, it gets the green flag which means it can be drilled at the end of Sept. Amber – the field is drilled in October and Red means that drilling has to be delayed until the end of Oct/beginning of November
• All of the fields at Thurlow are mapped as black-grass heads start to emerge in early June and any patches over 4-5 heads/ metre are sprayed off.

The group also had a talk from leading black-grass expert, Dr Stephen Moss on the physiology of black-grass and methods for control, and spent some time with grower Russ McKenzie on how he manages black-grass on his farm.

The German farmers also visited an AHDB Monitor Farm belonging to Rob Fox in Leamington Spa. Here they were able to compare UK and German costs of production, which turned out to be broadly similar.

A morning spent at Great Tew Estate provided the chance to look at wheat and barley variety trials, both treated and untreated. They were very interested to hear that Azoxystar had been used twice in one of the programmes for the additional greening and plant health benefits.

A visit to the Hutchinsons Helix site provided a look at more strategic farm solutions, with particular interest in TerraMap, a non-invasive soil scanning service that has just been launched in the UK.

“The trip was really fascinating, and the positive spirit of the UK growers came across clearly. The growers took away a lot from UK farming, that can be used in Germany, such as the high levels of technical expertise around spraying and grain storage. It was also really interesting to see the ecological aspects of farming in the UK which differ from the biodiversity actions which are common practice in Germany,” explained Stefan.

“Overall, its been very impressive to hear the extent of practices that UK farmers go to in order to manage black-grass and the need for a long term sustainable yield an not a short term goal.”

See our May 2019 Newsletter for up to date news and information from Life Scientific.

See our April 2019 newsletter for  all the latest news and information from Life Scientific.

A Nottinghamshire farm is hosting field scale trials looking at cost-effective options for spring weed control.

The trial being run at Poole Farms, Southwell in Nottinghamshire is comparing the performance and overall cost-effectiveness of two mesosulfuron +iodosulfuron based herbicides Pacifica and Cintac, as well as aiming to gain some insight into the most cost -effective adjuvant partners.

Cintac and sister product Niantic were the first off-patent  mesosulfuron + iodosulfuron herbicides to be available to the UK arable market. Manufactured by Dublin based off-patent manufacturer Life Scientific, Cintac is produced by the unique process of reverse engineering.

“This is the ability to clone a product from the original resulting in a product accepted as comparable by the regulatory authority (Chemical Regulation Division) – which means it is the same as the reference product –  and in the case of Cintac this is Pacifica,” explains Ruth Stanley, technical manager for Life Scientific.

She recognises the difficulty that whilst the product is recognised as comparable by CRD, many agronomists and growers want to see how it performs in the field.

“This is what we hope to demonstrate in this trial.”

Working together with farm contractor Alastair Baseley of JS Peak & Sons and agronomist Martin Hoggard of ProCam, the trials are spread across two separate fields .

The trial area is just short of 10ha and is being run on a split field trial basis on a field of Graham winter wheat, explains Martin Hoggard.

He points out that there are heavy black-grass populations across both fields, along with a smattering of brome and various broad leaved weeds.

“However we have gone on with a pretty hefty pre-emergence programme so if we get onto the black-grass early enough it will be interesting to see what control we get. We have not used any sulfonyl-urea based herbicides on these fields for a couple of years.”

“The crop had also had an application of 0.5l/ha of Pontos (flufenacet + picolinafen) post-emergence at growth stage 11.”

Mrs Stanley adds that the herbicides will mop any of the broad leaved weeds such as chickweed, and volunteer OSR as well as brome and wild oats that are also present.

The first trial will compare the performance of Pacifica and Cintac directly. Both products will be tank mixed with the adjuvant Cogent.

“We are not expecting to see any differences in control between the Pacifica and Cintac – that’s the whole point of the trial – as the products are the same!”

“What we will demonstrate is that the level of control from the Cintac is the same as that offered by the Pacifica.”

“We will leave an unsprayed strip to allow us a comparison with treated and untreated.”

Mrs Stanley will be carrying out plant counts of existing weeds before and after spraying to ascertain exact numbers.

The second trial will look at how Pacifica and Cintac compare when mixed with different adjuvants; the Pacifica will be mixed with BioPower and the Cintac with Cogent.

We will compare the differences in these treatments, she adds.

By demonstrating that Cintac offers the same levels of control as Pacifica, and at a more cost effective price it opens up the market-place to more choice for growers and agronomists, she points out.

“Its also worth noting that authorisation for Pacifica use expires on 30 April 2020, with all sales and distribution needing to happen before 30 April 2019, however this is not the case with Cintac which does not carry any expiry on authorisation of use.”

Getting the most out of spring spraying with independent expert Tom Robinson

Last year independent spray expert Tom Robinson conducted a trial at Thurlow Estates looking at the importance of spray application technique to maximise spring weed control.

The trial evaluated spray coverage of Cintac + an adjuvant on water sensitive paper targets @GS30.

Four nozzles were compared, each at 3 different boom heights using a commercial sprayer.

Results showed that nozzle height is important for all nozzles however the coverage on vertical surfaces doubled at 40 and 50cm vs 100cm.

For the best performance the nozzle height should be no more than 50cm, noted Mr Robinson.

Nozzle height also has an effect on spray coverage, he adds.

The traditional 110° Fanjet did an acceptable job although it is sensitive to boom height and has a poor drift profile.

3D Angled spray produced the best coverage of vertical surfaces.

80° Flat fan produced the best coverage of flat surfaces.

Guardian Air was the least sensitive to nozzle height.

As blackgrass emergence in the replicated plots was too variable across the trials areas to allow differentiation of treatments by efficacy, the trial is being repeated this year.

PANEL Poole Farms Trial

• Soils are heavy clay
• Cultivations: Min till with a Sumo, Cambridge rolled and power harrowed before drilling. Fields have not been ploughed for the last six years.
• The wheat follows oilseed rape and was drilled on 23^rd October 2018 at a rate of 190kg/ha.
• Pre-emergence herbicide applications included: 0.5l/ha flufenacet, 4.2l/ha Bulldog (pendimethalin +diflufenican), full rate Avadex.
• Sprayer is 24m Bateman using a 110° Flat Fan nozzle

New technical manager for Life Scientific Ltd.

Life Scientific Ltd. has appointed Ruth Stanley as its UK technical manager. This new role within the company reflects the growing portfolio of its unique off-patent crop protection products registered for use in the UK.

Previously Campaign Manager at BASF for cereal herbicides and PGR’s, Mrs Stanley brings a wealth of experience and first hand farming knowledge to the role, as she is an active partner in her family arable farming enterprise in Leicestershire. Mrs Stanley is also a BASIS examiner.

In her new role Mrs Stanley will be the point of contact for advisors and growers providing them with the technical support needed to fully utilise the Life Scientific product portfolio.

“I am very excited to be joining Life Scientific and believe its unique approach in bringing off-patent products to market faster than ever before, will play a crucial part in providing the solutions that UK farming businesses are looking for in order to maintain sustainability going forward.”

“Farm businesses are currently under pressure to maintain profitability in a very unsure and challenging environment, so keeping costs down without compromising yield and quality is of paramount importance,” says Mrs Stanley.

Established in 1995, Life Scientific is co-owned (50/50) by its founder and CEO, Nicola Mitchell, and by French co-op group, InVivo.  The company, currently employs 60 people and has an annual turnover of €50 million.

Recent developments have also seen the appointment of a German managing director, Stefan Knittel, marking the formal entry of Life Scientific to the German market in the autumn 2018 – a key milestone in the growth of the company.

Dr Bill Lankford, Life Scientific’s UK country manager points out that the reason the company has been able to bring so many products so quickly to the UK market place is the company’s ability to reverse engineer a product from the original, meaning that the resulting product is accepted as comparable by the regulatory authority.

All of Life Scientific products will have full generic registration – there are no parallel imports.

He points out that this speed of development is a considerable competitive advantage against a background of pressure on farmers to reduce their cost of production, and on generic companies to secure a return on their investment in product development in a “highly unpredictable regulatory environment”

Croptec sees launch of innovative new products and spray application work from Life Scientific

Following on from the highly successful launch of its unique off-patent  mesosulfuron + iodosulfuron products NIANTIC and CINTAC last year, Life Scientific will introduce its newest products to the UK arable market at this year’s Croptec event.

Visitors to the Life Scientific stand will have the chance to discuss these exciting new approvals with key representatives from Life Scientific and also discuss the results of its latest spray application trials.

“We are delighted to announce several new product approvals, as well as extensions of use for some established products, reflecting our continuing investment in the UK arable market,” says Bill Lankford, Life Scientific UK country manager.

REVEL (difenoconazole 250g/L EC) is a fungicide for the control of stem canker, light leaf spot, leaf and pod spot in winter and spring oilseed rape crops, as well as leaf spot and ring spot in edible brassicas.

SUMIR (florasulam 50g/L SC) is a post emergence herbicide for the control of cleavers and broad-leaved weeds in winter and spring crops of wheat, barley and oats.

“We also continue to work hard to develop additional recommendations for products already in the market place; our azoxystrobin registered product Azoxystar is now approved not just for use in cereals and potatoes, but also field beans and a wide-range of field grown vegetables.”

“Last spring Azoxystar also received an extension of authorisation for minor use (EAMU) for Sclerotinia control in soya beans.”

“Recent approval has been received for the addition of NIANTIC and CINTAC as new convenient tank mix or sequences with SUMIR.”

Life Scientific’s range of products are unique in that they are focussed on identical formulations of brand leaders and have full generic registration, there are no parallel imports points out Bill.

“The only fundamental difference to the original reference products is price; ours will cost less than the brand leader, so for growers and agronomists looking at their costs of production as we head into an era of intense financial scrutiny, we are offering crop protection solutions genuinely worthy of consideration.”

 New independent trials work on nozzle selection and boom height

Since the launch of its mesosulfuron + iodosulfuron herbicides NIANTIC and CINTAC at last year’s Croptec event, Life Scientific has invested significant resource on a series of trials looking at optimising the performance of these products with regards to nozzle type and height.

Independent application expert, Tom Robinson, conducted the trials on behalf of Life Scientific.

“We tested a range of nozzles at different boom heights on black-grass, looking specifically at the coverage on vertical surfaces doubled at 40, 50cm vs 100cm using a range of nozzle types that are typically found on farm. “

“Results were very interesting and varied between nozzles and boom heights – underlining the importance for operators to fully understand how to ensure sprays hit the target to deliver the best levels of control.”

Visitors to the Life Scientific stand at Croptec will be able to see the results of these trials and discuss how to implement them on farm.

For a comprehensive list of all Life Scientific products and technical updates, please visit the Life Scientific website www.lifescientific.com