Chris Anderson: Soybean pest forces farmers to know remedy

[Tweed]

http://www.pantagraph.com/stories/021605/bus_20050216004.shtml

"-Add protectant and curative to your vocabulary if you plan on growing soybeans this spring. The two words will be important if Central Illinois growers have to deal with soybean rust.

Protectant and curative refer to the two main types of fungicide that knock down the rust fungus. Within those categories are the strobilurins and chlorothalonils -- protectants -- and sterol inhibitors -- the curatives.

The strobilurins include Quadris, Stratego and Headline, while the sterol inhibitors are Tilt, Folicur and Laredo EC.

Matt Montgomery, University of Illinois Extension crop system educator, said farmers will need to know the difference between the two groups because they attack rust differently.

For example, the protectants inhibit establishment of the fungus in plant tissue. They work best when only 3 percent to 5 percent of the leaf surface contains rust pustules, Montgomery said."