What is Metafur EC™?

Plant feeding Nematodes live in the soil and feed on plant roots, reducing the plant’s uptake of water and nutrients and the plant tolerance to other stresses such as drought. They lurk behind the soil particles invisible to the naked eye and contribute to yield loss and reduced crop quality.

Welcome to Metafur™ – a safe and effective nematicide developed by Sineria Holland BV.
Metafur™ is a novel, natural, broad spectrum nematicide suitable for use on a wide range of crops.
Metafur™ contains natural ingredients extracted from bagasse; the waste fibre from sugar production.
Metafur™ natural aspects attribute to its increased safety when compared to widely used synthetic nematicides. Most of the commercial synthetic nematicides, including the extensively used Fenamiphos and Oxamyl, are highly toxic, non-selective soil pesticides that are classified as Class I products.

Metafur™, a natural, user friendly product.  It is less harmful to soil organisms such as Earthworms and to beneficial micro-organisms such as Trichoderma and different strains of Bacillus and Rhizobium.

The main ingredients of Metafur™ are extracted from the sugarcane bagasse via a natural steaming process. The organic source is heated to 100°C where the pentosan is hydrolysed to the soluble sugar pentose and dissolved in the available water.

Metafur™ acts as an excellent substrate for beneficial micro-organism development since the sugar molecules contained in the formulation act as a soil enhancer.

Metafur™ is an organic, biodegradable product with no harmful residues in the plant or the soil.
Due to the increased demand for Low residue, environmentally friendly products, Metafur™ is highly praised by the agriculture industry and different research institutes.

Mode of Action and characteristics

Metafur™ manifests multiple modes of action against the targeted nematodes. Following application, Metafur™ is toxic by contact to almost all free living nematodes.

Metafur™ primary effect is damaging the nematode’s cuticle and has a secondary effect, by immobilizing the nematode population. Even in low concentrations, the nematode’s cuticle is irreversibly damaged.
Metafur™’s special formulation ensures its presence near the root zone, protecting the plant from nematode infection and product loss due to leaching.
Metafur™ is a “semi-systemic” nematicide with “translaminar” root movement that exhibits limited ability to penetrate the xylem and the phloem resulting in very low crop residue.

The nematodes ingesting Metafur™ become paralysed and stop feeding within hours following application, preventing subsequent crop damage.
Due to its unique mode of action, Metafur™ can be applied throughout the season and is suitable for multiple applications.

Metafur™ should be applied upon nematode appearance and can be applied using various irrigation systems while the special non-volatile formulation ensures residual root protection.

Conclusion

Metafur™ exhibits a remarkable decrease of plant pathogenic nematodes shortly after application. Metafur™ has a unique and complex mode of action making it an excellent solution for nematode resistance management programs. Nematodes are highly unlikely to develop resistance to Metafur™ and no cross-resistance has been reported so far.

Metafur™’s efficacy has been proved by an extensive series of field trials, conducted by a wide number of independent Research Institutes and is the preferable choice of professional farmers.