Fury and purity: this is Furity, the patented, innovative and revolutionary technology that Seipasa has applied in the development and formulation of the microbiological fungicide Fungisei. We review the key points that help to understand this technology.
1. What is the value-added of Furity technology?
Undoubtedly, the exclusive and differentiated formulation. The best active ingredient in the world is useless without a good formulation. The aim of a formulation is to convey the asset, protect it and adapt it to an environment that allows it to develop its full potential.
The Furity technology present in Fungisei biofungicide has allowed Seipasa to design a molecular structure capable of protecting the micro-organism and ensuring its stability and homogeneity. Furity allows the spores to remain inactive and in perfect condition until they come into contact with the water in the application tank.
The application of a product of microbiological origin and its result in the field are very complex processes, where many factors have to be taken into account, unlike active ingredients based on synthetic chemistry.
We start from the premise that a microbiological asset is a living being that is in a hostile environment from the moment it is placed in the treatment tank. Why is this? Because it can be found in contaminated water or mixed with other fungicides or chemical compounds that affect its viability. Once applied, it is exposed to factors such as high levels of solar UV radiation, which can be extreme. It may also encounter a microbiota that competes for the ecological niche. These are all adverse conditions that affect the viability and end result of the product.
What Seipasa has achieved, thanks to the Furity technology, is to develop a formulation that stabilises the active ingredient in these adverse environments and increases its viability, allowing it to establish itself and develop its full potential, i.e. to reach the focus and act against the disease with maximum efficacy.
2. How does the product work according to its mode of action?
Furity technology gives Fungisei microbiological fungicide three modes of action, both preventative and curative. The first is antagonism, based on colonisation of space and direct competition for nutrients. It gives the product a preventive action: it allows a previous and powerful implantation of the micro-organism, which manages to occupy the space and prevents the installation of pathogens.
The second mode of action is the induced systemic resistance (ISR) in plants. It is also preventive. Once the micro-organism is present in the plant, the plant recognises it as a possible pathogen and turns on its alarm signals. At that moment, the transcriptomics of the plant starts to change and to produce defences because it thinks it is being attacked. All these defences will later serve to protect the plant against the appearance of a real pathogen.
The third mode of action is antibiosis, giving the product a curative effect through its fungicidal and bactericidal action. It includes several biological control mechanisms based on the production of natural antibiotics with the ability to inhibit the growth of fungi and bacteria. These antibiotics include lipopeptides that are able to disrupt the membrane of the phytopathogenic fungus and induce cell death.
3. What advantages does this technology bring to the farmer in his day-to-day work?
Furity is a technology that makes life easier for the farmer. Beyond formulation, there is an essential requirement to maximize the use of a product, and that requirement is ease of handling and safety of use.
Furity removes these barriers and makes Fungisei biofungicide very easy to use. Why is that? Because it is largely compatible with other synthetic fungicides; it dissolves immediately and mixes very well without prior stirring or hydration. You can leave it in the vat or tank, resume the application 24 hours later and check that the product is still stable and has not separated into phases. In addition, it leaves no residues or stains on crops after application.
Furity technology is also very visual. Just by looking at the formulation of Fungisei, the farmer can see it immediately. Visually, it is a different type of product from what we understand as an agrochemical. Furity is based on formulation technology from the pharmaceutical industry, which gives the product added safety and sets it apart from the biological fungicides on the market.
4. What value does it give to the product to have a patent?
The licence of use is provided by the phytosanitary registration, but the patent confers exclusivity. It recognises the tangible value of innovation, the value of having created something new, something different, and being able to put it into the hands of society. All of this is contained in the Furity technology and the patent behind Fungisei.
5. Why are you coming to the market now?
With Furity as the name, Seipasa wants to make the complex patented technology that gives life to Fungisei more understandable and communicate its differential value when we launch the product on the European market. It should be remembered that in recent months Seipasa has obtained phytosanitary registrations in Spain, Portugal and France, three very representative markets on the European continent.
Furity focuses not only on the active ingredient, i.e. the highly effective strain of Bacillus subtilis, but also on the exclusive formulation that carries the active ingredient and enhances its effect. It is a phytosanitary registration based on a micro-organism classified by the EU as Low Risk and represents almost 10 years of investment, time and effort by all the company’s teams.