New Talon Soft XT secures future for rodent control

Syngenta has announced the introduction of the new Talon Soft XT concentration of its world-leading brodifacoum rodenticide – offering the same high levels of resistance beating efficacy, achieved with a reduced concentration of active ingredient to meet regulatory demands.

Syngenta Business Manager, Richard Moseley, pointed out that the formulation and manufacture of Talon Soft XT has not changed in any way and remains just as palatable as the original Talon Soft. The only difference has been the reduction in the concentration of the brodifacoum active ingredient, from 50 parts per million, to 25 parts per million (ppm).

Full R&D trials and testing have been undertaken to ensure the product continues to offer the same high level of efficacy and control of rats and mice, including strains that are resistant to other rodenticides.

The development of Talon Soft XT enables regulatory compliance to assure the product’s future availability in the UK, and that professional pest controllers will be able to continue its use in domestic and commercial situations for customers. Talon Soft XT is only available for professional pest controllers.

“Talon Soft XT is sold widely across Europe by Syngenta and the only concentration that has been available in the Nordics for a number of years, with consistent results and no concerns,” added Richard. Other products in the Talon range, including Talon M and Talon Glow, have always only been available in the UK at a sub-30 ppm concentration. 

Richard reported regulatory compliance has seen a drive for reduction in the active ingredient loading for all pesticide products. Chemical registration conditions now mean it is only possible to produce new products with the minimum level of active ingredient that trials have shown is required to achieve the desired level of control dictated by legislators.

“In the case of Talon Soft XT, the trials have consistently shown that the 25 ppm concentration performed exceptionally well throughout."

“In the ongoing cycle of UK registration for Talon products into the future it is therefore unjustifiable to retain the original 50 ppm product, with the associated risk of overdosing active ingredient, when the 25 ppm concentration can achieve the same result, with associated reductions on active ingredient loading.”  

Proving the palatability and efficacy of the new concentration product, Syngenta Technical Manager, Sean Loakes, reported that in UK trials all of the mice that fed on the 25ppm Talon Soft XT consumed well in excess of the lethal brodifacoum dose to kill, with 100% control. The ingestion of brodifacoum by feeding mice at the 25ppm rate was still at least three times that considered the lowest lethal active ingredient dose for mice, of 0.55mg/kg bodyweight – equivalent to around 0.01mg for a typical house mouse.

Even mice with known resistance to other rodenticides (Y139C mutation) were fully controlled by the Talon Soft XT, he added.

In parallel UK trials on Norway rats (Rattus norvegicus), Talon Soft XT delivered 100% control, with average death within four and a half days of the trial commencing. Offered against an existing grain-based diet, the rats consumed an equivalent weight of the Talon Soft XT bait, ensuring ingestion of at least 10x the minimum lethal dose for brodifacoum. Half the rats in the trial consumed more Talon Soft XT than their existing conventional feed offered alongside.

In practice, consuming around 10-15% of a rodent’s daily feed intake is sufficient to ingest a fatal intake of brodifacoum.

Most rats will achieve that in a single feed, or with mice sampling from multiple bait points over a single day.  

Richard Moseley highlighted that since Talon Soft XT is exactly the same formulation as the original it will still work just as well in tandem with Talon Track, the non-toxic monitoring version  of the bait.

Pest professionals can position and leave the highly palatable Talon Track in bait stations to identify pest activity; when they are known to be feeding operators can simply switch to the active Talon Soft XT without any noticeable change to the rodents and no risk of bait aversion. Results have shown efficacy can be three to five days quicker with the combination approach, by getting instant take on the toxic bait.     

Talon Soft XT will replace the existing concentration of Talon Soft  for sale by the end of August . Pest professionals have until 10 February 2024 to use existing stocks of original Talon Soft and switch to the XT concentration for rodent control.

Importantly the new registration for Talon Soft XT includes a two-year shelf-life, to provide greater flexibility and stock utilisation for businesses and pest professionals.