Bayer CropScience has received US approval for a new insecticide, Belt SC (Nihon Nohyaku’s flubendiamide 480 g/litre), for use on fruit and arable crops for the control of lepidopteran pests. The product has been registered for use on pome and stone fruit, tree nuts, grapevines, maize, cotton and tobacco. Belt has been approved for use in California, but some state registrations are still pending. They are expected to be granted within the next month.
Flubendiamide comes from a new chemical class, the phthalic acid diamides, which target insect ryanodine receptors. “The product’s new mode of action disrupts the calcium balance within insect muscle cells, which leads to a rapid cessation in feeding as well as paralysis of target pests,” says product development manager Steve Krueger.
The insecticide is suitable for the control of pests resistant to pyrethroid, organophosphate and carbamate insecticides as well as insect growth regulators, Bayer points out. Target pests include armyworms (Spodoptera spp), tobacco budworms (Helicoverpa virescens), corn earworms (H zea), codling moths (Cydia pomonella) and leafrollers. Belt is recommended for use at 2-3 fl oz/acre (148-222 ml/ha) on field crops and at 3-5 fl oz/acre on fruit, nuts and grapevines.
Bayer and Nihon Nohyaku have agreed to co-operate on the worldwide commercialisation of flubendiamide. Nihon Nohyaku launched the insecticide, as Phoenix, in Japan in 2007. It has also been approved in Chile, India, Pakistan and the Philippines. Further approvals are expected this year in Canada, Brazil, Columbia, Australia and New Zealand.