ZDC’s Dingcan: Novel formulation showed outstanding effects under abiotic stress

• An agricultural cornerstone: In the extreme rainstorm circumstance in Jiangxi, Dingcan shows excellent effect of control of disease and safeguard of yield 

• Scientific and technological innovation: Dingcan integrates chemistry and biotechnology to provide paddy rice with dual-effect protection 

• Farmer’s recognition: Positive feedback from front-line farmers confirms Dingcan’s remarkable effect and market reputation 

″This year, I returned to my hometown in Jiangxi and contracted growing of paddy rice of more than 100 hectares, of which about 33 hectare is planted with early season rice. Unexpectedly, heavy rain is experienced this year, which is a disaster to early season rice.″

″Initially, we expected harvesting of some 9,000 kilograms of rice per hectare, but now it seems that the heavy rain this year would definitely reduce the yield. As damp rice is today sold at only RMB 2 yuan per kg, the early season rice may end up in a loss of money this year.″

In June this year, upon invitation, the writer had the honor of travelling with Qingdao ZDC team to the cities of Yichun and Nanchang in Jiangxi Province to check up the paddy growing situation. At that time, it was raining heavily for long days, when local farmers were worried about the growth and harvesting of the early season rice and ratoon rice this year. Now that the early season rice has been harvested, we would want to pay a visit to check up the paddy growing situation and the performance of ZDC’s products. 

Determined passion for agriculture is a basis to wholeheartedly serve farmers

In June, the writer joined a visit to Jiangxi Province to check up the performance of ZDC’s key product Dingcan, which is 10% Trifloxystrobin·30% Tebuconazole SC. It was raining heavily when we arrived in Nanchang, Jiangxi, where local people told us that it had been raining like this already for a month. During these days, the ZDC team walked into the paddy field in the heavy rain, which is a true reflection of ZDC’s love and passion for agriculture. Moreover, the excellent performance of Dingcan in the long-lasting rainy days reveals a hope brought to agriculture by scientific and technological innovation.

During the days of heavy rain, the ZDC team, along with local business partners, went deep down into the paddy field to check up the damage to the paddy rice and assess the protective effect of Dingcan on the affected rice. Chen Xinwei, Poduct manager of ZDC, said, ″We must not stop work just because of rain. On the contrary. It is just at this moment in time that we should walk into the frontline to understand how our product performs under such an extreme weather condition, so that we can provide farmers with guidance and assistance in a timely manner.″ 

Ge Jianhua of Jiangxi Nongelian is a key distributor of ZDC’s Dingcan in Jiangxi Province. Despite the bad weather, he was enthusiastic and excited about this visit. ″As an agricultural inputs dealer, our responsibility is not merely to sell product, but is more importantly to ensure that the product can bring actual benefit to farmers. In the circumstance of special weather, we should walk out of office to solve problems for farmers,″ said Ge Jianhua. In the rainstorm, the performance of Dingcan turned out to be a pleasant surprise. In many paddy fields where Dingcan was applied, it is evident that despite the heavy rain, paddy rice grows well, with tall, straight and green leaves, almost without signs of disease infection. 

Farmer’s praise is a high recognition of product

In Youlan Town, Nanchang City, Wan Ping, a large grain farmer, showed us his paddy field. ″Look, the bottom leaves are all green. From tillering stage to earing and flowering, it has remained in such a state, being all green, never been yellowing.″ Wan Ping said excitedly with his Jiangxi dialect, ″The leaves here are much wider than that of other farmers. As the photosynthesis is stronger, paddy rice grows better.″  Wan Ping told us that he had used Dingcan twice. The first application was during the tillering stage at 750 ml per hectare by UAV; the second application was during the earing period, at 500 ml per hectare by UAV. ″The effect of application is really good, especially in respect of protecting bottom leaves, which stay straight, green and big, being all protected well.″

In Anyi County, Nanchang City, Mr. Cai shared his experience in the use of Dingcan. ″We use the large package size Dingcan on ratoon rice, result is very fruitful. The result shows that the product not only increases yield, but also prevents the three major diseases on rice,″ said Mr. Cai, ″Now some farmers applied it twice, rice leaves are thick and green, growing very well. The top and bottom are very clean, which look beautiful.″ The field visit well affirms the efficacy claimed in Dingcan’s product introduction. According to ZDC’s product introduction, Dingcan can not only effectively prevent and control rice sheath blight and false smut, but also prevent rice blast. More importantly, with the innovative use of seaweed extract derived from Durvillaea Potatorum as the agent carrier, Dingcan achieves dual-effect which are respectively the biological stimulation and the chemical control. The dual-effect stimulates the activity of the defensive enzyme system inside plants, enhances the efficacy, promotes crop’s nutrient absorption, improves stress resistance, thus significantly improving crop yield and quality. 

Under the extreme heavy rain condition, the advantages of Dingcan are best demonstrated, which not only prevents paddy rice from disease infection, but also improves crop’s resistance to stress to better cope with adverse weather. Farmer’s praise stands for a high recognition of the product. Mr. Zou from Fengxin County, Yichun City, Jiangxi Province, is not only a large grower, but is also running agricultural businesses on his own. He said to us, ″I used Dingcan once at the tillering stage, then I used it again at the earing and flowering stage. Now you see, the leaves are straight, without sheath blight at the bottom. Paddy rice grows very well.″ 

Mr. Wan from Liuhu Town, Nanchang City, shared the specific result of his use of Dingcan. ″We used 450 grams per hectare in the early stage of earing, results are very evident. The bottom leaves are straight, with regular photosynthesis without signs of premature senescence. Looking at earing, I would prefer to an early harvesting, but later harvesting gives better grain filling.″ Mr. Wan particularly emphasized the excellent performance of Dingcan in prevention and control of sheath blight, ″You see that the bottom and the basal part of stem are all green and straight, without sheath blight and spots. It is very refreshing.″ Mr. Wan also compared use of the product last year and this year. ″This year, I used Dingcan, with a better effect than last year, as reflected in earing and filling, which are both good. This year I expect a yield increase by about 750 kg per hectare over last year.″

Yu Minsheng, from Shigang Town, Nanchang City, shared an interesting story. ″Once, a farmer came to me with an empty bottle of Dingcan which he had picked up in the rice field and said to me, ‘Get me this, hurry up.’ I asked him how about the effect of the product, he said in a local dialect which is hardly understandable - ‘nice, nice.’ Yu Minsheng himself was deeply touched by the feedback from others, having decided to use Dingcan in his over 70 hectares of paddy field. ″I just finished the application yesterday; it worked really well.″ These real feedback from front-line farmers not only affirms the excellent performance of Dingcan, also exhibits its good public praise from the market. Farmers generally revert that Dingcan has an excellent performance in protecting bottom leaves, preventing diseases and promoting growth, as well as an obviously-felt yield increase after use of the product. 

Technological innovation shapes future agriculture 

To better understand the working principle of Dingcan and its distinctive advantages, we interviewed Dr. Zhao Shuai, Technical Director of Qingdao ZDC. Dr. Zhao told us, ″The key strength of Dingcan lies on its unique formula. We selected two highly effective ingredients, Trifloxystrobin and Tebuconazole, which are of different mechanism of action. After mixing, the product is not only capable of expanding fungicidal spectrum but also effectively putting off the emergence of pathogenic resistance. Furthermore, Dingcan’s innovative use still continues. Dr. Zhao stressed on the seaweed biostimulant added to the product, saying that ″We use bull kelp from Tasmania and could retain the active substances in the seaweed to the greatest extent via a special process. These substances not only stimulate plant’s defense system, but also promotes nutrient absorption and improves stress resistance.″ 

This kind of innovative ″chemistry + biology″ combination not only enables Dingcan’s capability of effective prevention of disease but also promotes crop growth, improves yield and quality. Dr. Zhao said, ″In the circumstance of extreme weather at present, the advantages of Dingcan appear to be more valuable, as it not only protect crops from diseases but also strengthens crop’s resilience to stress, helping crops better sustain the adverse weather.″ Although Dingcan is highly recognized by the market, the ZDC team is not self-satisfied. The work team has clearly realized that the market is full of fierce competition, whilst farmer’s needs are constantly changing.

Mr. Ge of Jiangxi Nongelian gave an analysis of the current market situation, saying that ″In recent years, pesticide regulation has become more and more stringent. In August last year, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs issued an explicit order to regulate pesticide combo for sale on the market. This is both a challenge and an opportunity for us.″ Mr. Ge believes that Dingcan, as an individual product functioning like a combo, fully meets the requirement of the new policy, and meanwhile can fulfill the multiple needs of farmers. ″Our goal is to make Dingcan the best updated product at the end of the era of pesticide combo.″ Nevertheless, Mr. Ge admitted openly and frankly that it is not easy to achieve this goal. ″As farmers are becoming more and more cost-conscious, we need to make continuous improvement to the product cost performance through continuous technological innovation and service upgrade. At the same time, we are working hard to improve our marketing strategy, reduce excessive marketing and devote more resources to product development and farmer service.″ 

Dingcan’s market strategy and future prospect

In the interview, we noticed that many farmers, while recognizing the effect of Dingcan, also expressed concern about the pricing. A farmer in Nanchang City told us, ″Dingcan does work well, but the price is not low. We have to carefully think about the purchase and the application to see how we can find the best cost effectives.″ In the face of this situation, ZDC’s marketing team is positively making adjustment to its sales strategy, trying to work out optimized applications to help farmers control cost while maintaining the effect of application, for example, to recommend different dosage at different stage of growth, thus ensuring effective control and avoidance of overuse. 

The ZDC team is confidence in the future of Dingcan. Mr. Luan, board chairman of the company, said during an interview, ″The market recognition of ‘Dingcan’ allows us to see the huge potential of scientific and technological innovation in the agricultural field. However, we know very well that agriculture is an industry requiring long-term investment and careful nurture. Our mission is not only to provide high-quality products, but also to contribute to the modernization of agriculture in China and the world.″ Mr. Luan reveals that the company is increasing R&D investment to explore more innovative pesticide products. ″Our goal is to develop more products like ‘Dingcan’ which not only effectively controls insects but also promotes crop growth, yield and quality. We believe that this is the future direction of pesticide development.″ At the same time, Qingdao ZDC has been constantly improving its service system. ″We are building a nationwide technical service network to provide farmers with complete supervisory service beginning from seed selection up to harvesting. In this way, we would want farmers use our products more effectively which will improve farmer’s crop growing skill and competency.″ 

Learn more about ZDC：https://www.zdcagri.com/