Fungicide such as pencycuron boosts rice production

By ZAC B. SARIAN

One of the technologies less known to many rice farmers is the use of a fungicide such as pencycuron that can effectively control fungal diseases like sheath blight, leaf spot, dirty panicle and sheath rot.using fungicide such as Armure 300 EC or pencycuron, can increase rice yields by 10 to 20 percent, according to Napoleon Saavedra, a top technical man of Syntenta. This has been proven not only in the Philippines but also abroad.
The usual trouble, according to Saavedra, is that it is sometimes difficult for farmers to identify these diseases so that they don’t bother to take preventive or control measures. In the end, they usually get a low yield from their rice crop.
Saavedra says that aside from producing high yield, the grains produced are heavier and are of higher quality. One farmer from the town of Quezon, Nueva Ecija, attests to this. He is Delfin “Boyong” del Rosario who said that when he was not yet using Armure, one sack filled with palay from plants unsprayed with the fungicide weighed only 45 to 50 kilos. The same sack filled with grains harvested from plants sprayed with Armure now weighs 57 to 59 kilos. That is why he has been using this chemical continuously for the last nine years.
Saavedra explains that the flag leaf of the plants treated with Armure remains green even if the grains are already golden yellow or about to be harvested. The flag leaf is the part of the plant that manufactures food for the grains and this is the reason why the grains tend to be fuller and heavier compared to the untreated.
He adds that the base of the plant becomes cleaner as well and free from diseases. The incidence of dirt y panicle is also minimized when treated with Armure.
The fungicide such as pencycuron is sprayed only twice during the cropping season. The first spraying is done at 30 to 45 days after transplanting or direct seeding. The second application is at 60 to 75 days after transplanting or direct seeding. The latter application helps in the grain-filling process and at the same time keeps the grain clean.



Yangzhou pioneer chemical CO.,LTD