Developmental pipelines haven’t been producing pesticide products very rapidly the past few years. Growers received welcome news recently when FMC announced it intends to offer two new products for 2019, pending regulatory approval. Current plans call for marketing Lucento and Ethos XB for control of certain diseases and insects next season.

Gail Stratman, FMC regional technical service manager based in Nebraska, says FMC now has a good supply of chemical materials in its developmental pipeline after acquiring Cheminova. Lucento, expected to receive registration yet this fall by U.S. EPA, is one of the first new fungicides for corn from FMC. It can also be used on soybeans.

Lucento is the combination of a new SDHI-class fungicide active ingredient and a triazole, Stratman says. “It’s proving to have good residual activity and is more mobile in the plant than most competitive products on the market now,” Stratman explains.

Meanwhile, Ethos is an insecticide with a new biological fungicide component. It’s designed to be applied with FMC’s 3rive 3D application system, Stratman notes.

New products
Here is a closer look at both products, expected to be available in 2019:

• Lucento fungicide. This new fungicide is expected to be effective on gray leaf spot, especially good on northern corn leaf blight and active on rusts in corn, Stratman says. Early results indicate it’s effective on frogeye leaf spot in soybeans.

“We see it having a fit in soybeans because frogeye leaf spot has become resistant to strobilurin chemistry in some locations,” he says. “Lucento doesn’t contain a strobilurin.” Since it doesn’t have a strobilurin component, it should be useful in combating further development of resistance in frogeye leaf spot.

More farmers and agronomists are moving toward the strategy of controlling leaf diseases in corn on the ear leaf and above in the canopy. Dave Nanda, an independent crop consultant in Indianapolis, says that’s the key region of the corn plant that needs protection during pollination and grain fill. It’s the part of the plant responsible for a large portion of photosynthesis which occurs later in the season.

This is where more mobility within the plant becomes an asset for Lucento, Stratman says. It should allow the fungicide to play a control role in protecting the ear zone and upper part of the plant. Most strobilurin products have limited mobility, he adds.

• Ethos combination product. FMC hopes to market Ethos 3D next season. It’s an insecticide for early-season insect control, but also has a biological fungicide component. “That will be a plus in areas which are cool and wet in the spring,” Stratman says, including parts of Nebraska where irrigated corn is often planted in April. He looks for it to help control damping off and other diseases that can thin corn stands early in the season. It could be particularly useful where more people shift back to corn after corn for economic reasons.

Ethos isn’t meant to replace a seed treatment. “Instead, it takes over as the seed treatment’s effectiveness runs out and stays active on several insects through the V5 stage in corn,” Stratman explains.

This product also has activity on rootworm beetles and western bean cutworm. The biological component is active against key early-season diseases in soybeans.