Earlier this year, Australia became the first country in the world to register afidopyropen, an insecticide that aids in the control of aphids and silverleaf whitefly in vegetables and cotton.

BASF has now officially launched its new insecticide Versys, which includes afidopyropen as an active and is registered to control key aphid species in all vegetable crops, cotton, ginger, parsley and ornamentals. It also registered for the suppression of silverleaf whitefly, biotype B.

With the inclusion of afidopyropen, Versys introduces a new active ingredient to Australian horticulture and cotton. Its mode of action is different enough from those of any existing products for Versys to be classified as the first member of a new chemical sub-group: Group 9D, the pyropenes.

BASF states that Versys has a low impact on both beneficial insects and pollinators, and can be used to protect crops throughout the flowering period – although it shouldn’t be applied when bees are actively foraging in the middle of the day.

Versys affects aphids at all life stages, meaning that it isn’t dependent on controlling aphids at a single life-stage to stop population numbers getting out of control, and overloads pests with false signals to make them incapable of feeding, which in turn prevents the spread of diseases.

It also has short withholding periods, which allows it to be used up to a week before harvesting potatoes, sweetpotatoes, ginger and cotton, and just a single day before harvesting all other vegetable crops.

Versys was officially launched in front of more than 80 growers and industry representatives at the 2018 Hort Connections Conference in Brisbane on Tuesday 19 June.

For full details on the registered on-label uses of afidopyropen as the active in BASF’s Versys insecticide, search the APVMA’s public database of registered chemicals for ‘Versys’.

This post appeared in the AUSVEG Weekly Update published 3 July 2018. Subscribe to the Update using our online form to receive the latest industry news in your inbox every week!