Imtrade CropScience continues to lead the way in baiting game – December 08, 2022
It has been three years since Imtrade released its dual baiting system, Transcend, which combines the molluscicide Metaldehyde and the insecticide Fipronil.
Imtrade CropScience’s South Australian/Victorian sales manager and bait product manager John Barbetti could not be more pleased with the product.
“Metakill, our snail and slug bait, already had a strong customer base, so Transcend has offered additional value to existing customers whilst also opening up new markets for those just chasing insects,” he said.
The dual bait controls snails, slugs and a range of insect pests, and is a testament to Imtrade’s research and development efforts to fill a gap in the bait market. The weather resistant bait offers a vast improvement in the protection of beneficial insects over a boom or aerial applied broad-spectrum insecticide.
Mr Barbetti said Transcend’s registration now extended to a range of horticulture cropping situations – including use in grapevines – and had been widely adopted by growers broadly across Australia.
“We’ve been in the bait market for 20 years, starting out with a bran-based, low-concentration metaldehyde formulation, but discovered over time that effective control required more baits per square metre, higher active concentration and durability. Our research findings drove us to develop a solution for insect, snail and slug control in a single bait,” he said.
“To maximise control, growers and agronomists need a quality bait, longevity in wet and dry conditions, high palatability to target pests and high efficacy. These combined attributes allow a single bait to deliver an effective lethal dose multiple times.
“The bait dimensions and application rate are key to maximising likelihood of encounter, especially with snails and slugs.”
European earwigs, Portuguese millipedes and three different species of slaters are associated with significant grapevine damage in many regions across Australia.
Having the ability to incorporate the control of all these pests within the existing snail and slug control management plan in a single application has major economic savings for growers.
There is also the added benefit of contributing to on-farm carbon reductions and the ability to be incorporated into integrated pest management programs.
“We’re extremely proud to deliver another market-leading product to Australian growers from a 100 per cent Australian owned company,” Mr Barbetti said.
