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Specific Activity of Soybean Seed Fungicides

Treating seeds with fungicides may be beneficial when planting in cold, wet soils, or in reduced till or no-till fields. Additionally, a benefit may be obtained is seed germination is below 80% or a seed lot has low seed vigor. Seed that is mechanically unsound may be damaged further by the treatment process.

Follow label instructions for application rates and additional application instructions. Apply fungicide seed treatments before applying a Rhizobium inoculum and plant seed immediately.

Not all seed treatments are equally effective against the different pathogens that cause seed and seedling diseases. Two general types of seed treatment fungicides are available for control of these pathogens. One type is effective against the water-mold pathogens Phytophthora and Pythium, and the other group is most effective against the other fungal pathogens. For broad-spectrum control of different pathogens, some fungicide products contain a mixture of active ingredients.

Table 1. Specific activity of soybean seed fungicides

Active Ingredient	Trade names	Pythium	Phytoph- thora	Rhizoctonia	Phomopsis	Sclerotinia*	Fusarium
metalaxyl	Allegiance formulations	excellent	excellent	no activity	no activity	no activity	no activity
mefenoxam	Apron formulations	excellent	excellent	no activity	no activity	no activity	no activity
azoxystrobin + metalaxyl	SoyGaard	good	poor	good	good	unknown	good
captan	many	good	poor	good	fair	poor	fair
captan + PCNB +thiabendazole	Rival	poor	poor	good	excellent	excellent	excellent
carboxin + thiram	Vitavax-200	poor	no activity	fair?	excellent	excellent	poor
carboxin + captan	Vitavax-captan	fair	poor	good	good	excellent	fair
fludioxonil	Maxim 4FS	poor	poor	good	good	unknown	good
fludioxonil + mefanoxam	ApronMaxx	good	good	good	good	unknown	good
PCNB + ethazole	Terraclor Super-X Terra-Coat L-205N	good	poor	good	no activity	fair	poor
thiram	many	fair	poor	good	fair	poor	fair

Information from this site can be copied and distributed for educational use. Please credit the source with our name and URL: University of Wisconsin-Madison, Departments of Agronomy, Entomology, and Plant Pathology at www.plantpath.wisc.edu/soyhealth.

Last update 4/08