The product is the first Group 21 fungicide in cereals
Canadian wheat growers have a new fungicide available to them for the 2026 season in Telbek PRO from Corteva Agriscience.
This product is the first Group 21 mode of action available to Canadian cereal growers.
In addition to the product itself being new, one of its ingredients is too.
“We’re excited because this is an opportunity for Corteva to launch a brand new mode of action for cereal crop protection,” Tammy Jones, a technical sales agronomist at Corteva, told Farms.com. “It’s a Group 21 targeting some ascomycete diseases like Septoria.”
It also provides protection against FHB, tan spot, and glume blotch.
The new and novel mode of action comes from Adavelt, the first-ever picolinamide fungicide.
Telbek PRO also includes the Group 3 prothioconazole for added protection.
Adavelt’s availability to farmers represents decades of research, Jones said.
“It’s a combination of about 20 years of research,” she said. “It started out as something (scientists) found in the soil that was being produced by bacteria.”
Researchers discovered a naturally occurring fungicide in soil microbes. This led to the development of Inatreq for use in cereal and banana crops. And that work inspired Adavelt, and eventually Telbek PRO.
Having an available Group 21 means farmers can get more use from common modes of action found in wheat fungicides.
“Where we traditionally relied on Group 3s, 7s, and 11s, we bring in this Group 21 and through mixtures we can expand the efficacy of all of those modes of action,” Jones said.
In terms of timing, the Telbek PRO is designed for application when at least 75 per cent of the wheat heads on the main stem have fully emerged, to when 50 per cent of the heads on the main stem are in flower.
Corteva trials show Telbek PRO’s advantages over competitor products.
Throughout 45 locations in Western Canada in spring wheat fields, Telbek PRO showed a 6 bushel per yield increase over untreated checks, and a 62 per cent win rate compared to competitors.
And in four winter wheat locations in Eastern Canada, the product provided a 5 bushel per acre increase over competitor products.
Farmers interested in learning more about Telbek PRO can contact their local Corteva rep or visit Corteva’s website.