FRAC group concerns could be an increasing issue in the biological fungicide industry as more products and knowledge is developed.
A Fungicide Resistance Action Committee (FRAC) group is a model in which products are categorized to provide an easy way to rotate them and limit resistance. There currently aren’t a lot of products with different FRAC groups in the biologicals industry, but past-UC Cooperative Extension Advisor David Doll said in the latest Making Sense of Biologicals program that both more modes of action and product interaction will affect future application decisions.
“We need to keep in mind that these products still go after a specific process of protecting the plant,” Doll said. “There may be some antagonistic effects of these different modes of actions as they develop and I think as we gain a little more insight on the biological fungicide world, we will have a lot more clarity on how these products interact.”
In this episode, Doll details the history of FRAC groups and how they were formed. For now, biological fungicide products give growers another tool to combine with conventional products. Doll emphasized that FRAC groups were created to help avoid resistance and biofungicides give producers something to add to their rotation.
Listen to the episode with David Doll.
‘Making Sense of Biologicals’ is a series from AgNet West that dives into various topics with unbiased experts in the field of biologics to help the industry better understand the product category.
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