After years of research and complying with demanding legal requirements, natural pesticides have become a safe bet
The road is long and perhaps too bureaucratic; but it is also demanding and comprehensive in meeting requirements that not all phytosanitary products can satisfy. Precisely this difficulty is what gives greater validity to those who reach the end of the journey - registration, and even more so if it is biopesticides we are talking about. Such is the case with highly technical natural formulations such as NAKAR or PIRECRIS, by Seipasa, a company shaped by its experience with R+D+i and that is constantly finding better solutions for problems in the agriculture sector. By way of example, their latest research regarding control of powdery mildew with a formula that is 100% natural has shown efficiency levels that even exceed expectations.
Efficacy and safety are obvious features after the tough regulatory hurdles (identification, characterization, toxicology, ecotoxicology, residues ...) which biopesticides are subjected to in European legislation, to the point of equating to chemical treatments in these processes.
No wonder, the procedure for approval of substances and subsequently the corresponding formulation, can last as long as a decade. "The time period for registering a phytosanitary product has come to reach five to six years", according to AEPLA data, to which we must add the previous period of research and product development.
That is why registration is recognition of a job well done and a guarantee for the farmer, now more than ever, at a time when more and more active substances are being prohibited as a result of food safety and environmental issues.
Biopesticides and R&D+i
Advances in R + D + i become highly significant in the face of this challenge, especially in the creation of natural treatments, the design and formulation of which requires more knowledge and technique than in the case of synthetic formulas to achieve equivalent efficacy and better performance in the field.
This is the case with biopesticides such as NAKAR and PIRECRIS by Seipasa, which have successfully passed the demanding requirements for registration. At a time when farmers find less and less solutions available, this is a great help in the fight against pests. Compatibility with biological control and the absence of residues make this type of treatment an indispensible tools for Integrated Pest Management or IPM.
Cutting-edge biofungicides
In this area we also find Seipasa's latest research into the control of powdery mildew in fruit with a 100% natural product that has shown efficacy levels that even exceed expectations.
As manifested by the results of a recent test developed in Cieza (Murcia) by Innovations for Agricultural Studies GOES, on peaches, the formulations by Seipasa (MECA and ECCA) control powdery mildew equivalent at all times to the control achieved by a chemical program.
As specified by the centre’s director, Rafael Perez, in a technical conference in which the efficacy trial results were presented, the formulations ECCA and MECA in foliar application, "have managed to reduce and control damage of Podosphaera pannosa in peaches outdoors.”The conclusion of this study is that treatment programs by Seipasa demonstrate excellent control of powdery mildew damage in peaches, both in the fruit and the leaves.
The Director of the Technical Department at SEIPASA, Xavier Nácher explained the properties and advantages of using these products as well as the key for their inclusion in IPM strategies. As he explained, it is a formulation with a strong eradicant effect: "It inhibits the development of mycelium – the vegetative apparatus of fugus which it uses to receive nourishment- and prevents colonisation and penetration of it in the plant tissue."This results in patches drying up, creation of spores being stopped, dissemination being brought under control and the disease being eradicated, said Nácher.
Also present at the meeting was Ana Maria Ortega Gea, Professor of the Department of Plant Production and Microbiology at the Superior Polytechnic School of Orihuela, specialised in Diagnosis of phytopathogenic fungi, who emphasised the importance and epidemiology of this disease.