Cereal growers will welcome the official launch of the new fungicide active fenpicoxamid, better known now as Inatreq Active.

While the product came into the market late last spring as Questar, it was not available in quantity and this week’s official launch marks its formal entry into the Irish fungicide market.

It is to be sold as a standalone formulation of fenpicoxamid containing 50g/l under the product names Questar and Peacoq and also as a co-pack of the product names Aquino plus Turret, which is metconazole.

It has particularly strong activity against septoria and yellow rust.

Its mode of action is described as a QiI fungicide and it acts at a place close to where the QoIs or strobilurins work

Inatreq is not just a new active, it targets a new site in the fungus and it belongs to a new family of actives called the picolinamides.

This family is new to cereal fungicides but other actives from that family are currently used for late blight control in potatoes.

Its mode of action is described as a QiI fungicide and it acts at a place close to where the QoIs or strobilurins work. However, it has no known cross resistance to any of the other fungicide family, so it starts with a clean sheet. That said, it will have to be well minded to minimise the risk of resistance development as it is a single-site active.

Unique

Originally developed by Dow, it is now part of the Certeva stable.

It is quite a unique active in that it is a natural secretion from a bacteria that can break down in sunlight so there was some juggling needed in the development of its i-Q4™ formulation.

Speaking at the launch, both Steven Kildea of Teagasc and Tom McCabe of UCD acknowledged the strong performance of Inatreq in trials, and in particular its longevity following treatment.

This introduction is seen as particularly opportune, given that the SDHIs are showing signs of weakening.