For the first time ever, cotton growers will be able to use a convenient and innovative option to control nematodes, insects and diseases. Avicta Complete Pak, a groundbreaking seed-delivered technology to combat all early-season cotton pests, is now available for the 2006 planting season.

A combination of three separately registered products: Avicta seed treatment nematicide, Cruiser seed treatment insecticide and Dynasty CST seed-delivered fungicide, Avicta Complete Pak offers cotton growers complete early-season protection to ensure better root development and, in turn, a more vigorous crop with improved return on investment.

Over the past several years, Avicta Complete Pak has undergone extensive in-house and independent research. In trials conducted from 2000-2004, Avicta Complete Pak was shown to produce yields equal to or greater than Temik (5 pounds per acre) 80 percent of the time. Its seed-applied combination of three separately registered products provides effective protection from nematodes, insects and diseases in an extremely convenient delivery method.

Avicta Complete Pak provides protection from day one, eliminating the application timing uncertainty and labor intensive handling associated with current control methods.

“I think farmers are always looking for a way to speed up the planting operation. Anytime you have to apply an additional product, such as an in-furrow treatment, it means an additional stop for the tractor driver,” said Craig Rothrock, professor of plant pathology at the University of Arkansas. “Avicta Complete Pak, with nematicide, fungicide and insecticide on the seed, will speed up the planting operation tremendously.”

Avicta Complete Pak will give cotton producers something they have been needing for three decades: a new choice in a nematicide. “Syngenta is excited about offering cotton growers the first new option for nematode control in nearly 30 years,” said Steve Russell, seed treatment crop manager for Syngenta. “Growers now have an alternative to traditional nematode control methods in the form of an innovative, convenient seed treatment. Avicta Complete Pak also contains an insecticide and a fungicide for complete early-season protection. Providing growers with nematode, insect and disease protection in one simple step marks a breakthrough in cotton production.”

Avicta, the nematicide component of Avicta Complete Pak, received federal registration for use on cotton in February of 2005. It provides immediate protection against all major early-season nematode species, including southern root-knot, reniform and lance nematodes. Protecting cotton from infection by these nematodes promotes stronger stands and emergence, and builds the foundation for better yield and return on investment.

Cruiser, the insecticide component of Avicta Complete Pak, is a systemic insecticide belonging to a subclass of neonicotinoids. Since the 2001 planting season, Cruiser has been protecting plants from a broad spectrum of seed, soil and foliar chewing and sucking insects, including thrips and aphids, to help get crops off to a healthy, vigorous start.

Dynasty CST was introduced for the 2005 planting season.