About pencycuron: Studies on New Approaches to the Control of Diseases and Pests

Wax gourd（Benincasa hispida）has been becoming the favoured vegetable at domestic market for the recent years, but the sustainable development of wax gourd has been prevented by current cropping and pests & diseases, particularly damping off (Pythium aphanidermatum), rhizoctonia wilt (Rhizoctonia solan), fusarium wilt (Fusarium oxysporum) and virus disease, which are key factors to limit its planting extensively and to obstruct it in continuous cropping. Hence, new solution to diseases of wax gourd and its integrated management practice are necessarily studied. In this thesis, seed treatment products were applied to coat wax gourd seeds. The results showed that all germination rates of wax gourd seeds are increased from 60% to 69%~79% by means of seed treatment with two fungicides (Pencycuron +Thiram, Fludioxonil) and two insecticides (Imidacloprid, Fipronil) respectively. Seed treatment with Pencycuron+Thiram and Imidacloprid can ensure undisturbed germination and growth for 78% of the wax gourd. By the seed treatments with two fungicides, their efficacies against seedling diseases (damping off, rhizoctonia wilt) were up to 81.9% (Pencycuron +Thiram) and 46.2% (Fludioxonil) respectively. By the seed treatments with insecticide (Imidacloprid), the efficacy against aphids (Aphis gossypii) was up to 98.6% till 30 days after the sowing, and the infestation rate of the virus disease was also down. The results showed seed treatment, which has become common practice in western, ensure effective protection against seed-borne and soil diseases & pests in wax gourd, it takes place under controlled conditionals, often in closed systems, which are not only independent of the weather but also safer for the environment. Seed treatment with insecticides and fungicides are proposed among the standard methods used in the production of wax gourd, it offers farmers many advantages such as fewer spray applications, a reduction of costs, and considerable time saving, all of which help to increase income. Fusarium wilt (Fusarium oxysporum), which has widely occurred in the southern China, is one of the serious soil diseases in wax gourd. In this thesis the antagonistic bacteria (Pseudomonas fluorescens) was used to control fusarium wilt in wax gourd. The results showed that the efficacy of Pseudomonas fluorescens against fusarium wilt of wax gourd is up to 70.9%, but the conventional product (Cabendazim) is 6.7%. The biofungicides (antagonistic bacteria) like Pseudomonas fluorescens would provide wax gourds growers with a new approach to control fusarium wilt. Furthermore, biological pesticides are more environmentally friendly than chemical pesticides, and reduce significantly pesticides residue in the environment such as plants, soil and water. Biological pesticides would be for growers a choice of replacement of some high residue chemical pesticides. A compact package of integrated management practice of wax gourd including the application with new technologies: seed treatment (fungicide & insecticide) and the antagonistic bacteria (Pseudomonas fluorescens) were summarized in this thesis. The field demonstrations of these integrated management practices were conducted at three wax gourd bases of Yangshan, Qingyuan, Taishan of Guangdong province. These results showed that average times of applications and cost of pesticides & fertilizers is decreased by 5 times of application and Rmb153 Yuan per mu respectively, but average yield per mu is increased by 342KG per mu. Should those large growers of wax gourd implement the package of integrated crop management, they would harvest economic benefits, environmental benefits, meantime, the strategy of ICM is also meets the requirement of sustainable development of wax gourd production.

Yangzhou pioneer chemical CO.,LTD