Combining “Imitation and Innovation” to Create A “Chaser” in Chinese Seed Coating Sector

It is well known that seeds are keys to guarantee the food security, as they are the basis of the growth and development of crops, as well as the high and stable yields. That’s why the protection of seeds and seedlings is significant in crop growth. Seed coating agents are the “guarantor” that support the normal germination of seeds. Seed coating agents can be coated on the surface of the seeds precisely through advanced film-forming technology, which can eliminate seed-borne and soil-borne pests and diseases at the start of growth, mitigate pest and disease control pressures at intermediate and reduce costs for farmers at last.

The value of the seed treatment market within the overall Chinese pesticide consumption market increased from 1.3% in 2000 to 6% in 2019, with an average growth rate at 15% over the past 15 years. Even with a rapid growth trend, the developing industry still brings the hidden threatens, such as the addition of unlabeled ingredients, the technical material impurities, the segregation, the agglomeration and precipitation of coating agents and the unstable coating caused by inferior technologies. Therefore, seed coating products with the stable efficacy and the guaranteed safety performance, provided with strong and stable technical services, become the main requirement by farmers regarding to seed coating.

Demanding test criteria to a precision value of ‘0.001’

A qualified seed coating agent has to be safe and stable with a high film-forming property, ensuring the good coating commerciality and low dusting-off rate. It also needs to be water-permeable, breathable and have a good slow-release effect to prevent pests and control diseases, to ensure a good emergence rate, strong seedlings and improved crop stress resistance.

The quality of a seed coating agent can be directly reflected by its physical and chemical indicators, such as pH, active ingredient concentration, suspension rate, fineness, D90 and viscosity. Based on these indicators, the performance of coating can be predicted.

Quality evaluation criteria (seven categories) for seed coating agents and the performance of Sinochem International Crop Care’s seed coating agent product

To maintain the quality of its seed coating products, Sinochem International Crop Care focuses on developing leading technologies to control product quality at high testing standards and verify product effects through germination test. Meanwhile by affording customized services, such as the detection of seed-borne pathogens, the company offers seed coating products that guarantee the safety of seeds in a comprehensive and efficient manner.

By controlling product quality from the source, Sinochem International Crop Care continuously reduces the grain size of seed coating agents with the patented grinding technology. Currently, most of the company’s products have a D90 grain size below 3 microns, so they can uniformly cover the surface of seeds and form a dense protective layer, ensuring the safe application of pesticides while the flowability of coated seeds and the uniformity of coating can be greatly improved. The company also uses specialist instruments for measuring suspending rate, fineness and viscosity, to ensure that products have a better suspending rate (90%) and the stability to avoid physical and chemical reactions during storage, as well as prolong shelf life. Other product indicators, such as pH, low temperature storage stability and high temperature storage stability, are in line with the requirements of China’s national standards.

Grain size graph of Sinochem’s Aimile product (D90=1.603μm)

In addition to laboratory testing, direct seed coating testing is the most intuitive way of testing the efficacy of high-performance film-forming agents and the coating effect of finished products. After applying seed coating by mixing samples and water and film-forming agents, the product’s coating agent application is assessed by observing color, gloss, coating uniformity, film-forming property and flowability, while the coating uniformity and dusting-off rate are tested by specialized instruments, such as a spectrophotometer and dusting-off tester, enabling the product to achieve expected film-forming property and uniform coating.

Customized coating solutions of Sinochem International Crop Care

To further guarantee a coating effect, Sinochem International Crop Care conducts safety germination tests on every product batch after laboratory testing to observe germination viability and germination rate of seeds and verify the safety and effectiveness of products, ensuring that each product batch will meet the needs of customers in the seed sector. In addition, the company offers customized value-added services according to the needs of customers. For pathogens potentially carried by various crop seeds, the company can detect surface and internal seed-borne pathogens and provides customized coating solutions based on field conditions.

Sinochem provides customized seed-borne pathogen detection services for customers

Safety-based “imitation and innovation”

In 2013, Sinochem International Crop Care officially entered the seed treatment agent market, with the service concept of “enhancing the value of seeds through cost-effective seed treatment solutions and services that combine imitation and innovation.” It also created its seed coating agent brand, “SeedEra,” featuring high quality and excellent technical support and services.

In 2018, the company introduced its innovative fenaminstrobin-based seed coating agent, Tengshou^®, which quickly became the focus of attention of the Chinese seed coating agent market, due to the use of three key patents. Tengshou^® is a mixture of fenaminstrobin, difenoconazole and thiamethoxam with a total 45% suspension concentrate for dressing seeds, which is a patented mixture of 0.6% fenaminstrobin, 1.8% difenoconazole and 42.6% thiamethoxam, and the only seed coating agent in the Chinese market that contains three active ingredients, including Sinochem’s innovative fenaminstrobin and a high concentration of thiamethoxam. Fenaminstrobin is a biomimetically synthesized strobilurin fungicide patented by Sinochem. It features high fungicidal activity, broad fungicidal spectrum, and good preventive and treatment activity, as well as systemic and translaminar activity. It can help promote plant growth, increase crop yield and improve crop quality. The concentration of thiamethoxam in Tengshou^® is as high as 42.6%, which can help effectively control wheat aphids, improve the stress resistance of seedlings and comprehensively protect wheat. Difenoconazole is a triazole systemic fungicide with broad spectrum control, effectively controlling diseases caused by wheat sheath blight and other major fungus.

In March 2021, Tengshou^® was approved for use on corn for controlling Sphacelotheca reiliana and aphids. It has also been included in the corn coating solutions of Sinochem International Crop Care, to promote root growth and seedling health and prevent insects and diseases during the seedling stage. According to extensive field verification, Tengshou^® can also effectively reduce the occurrence of pests and disease at a late stage of crop growth.

Corn crops have robust root mass and dark green leaves by using Sinochem International Crop Care corn seed treatment solution

The customer-centered value creator

In the future, by focusing on its “4S Strategy” for its seed coating business, Sinochem International Crop Care will provide innovative, cost-effective, complete and supportive seed treatment solutions to ensure the all-round care of crops, from seed germination to later growth process, as well as to improve the value of seeds and create a “chaser” in China’s seed coating sector.

SOLUTION: Target the defects of seed varieties and weaknesses of pest and disease control, highlight the effectiveness and safety of product solutions, and formulate new product in product composition, film-forming agents, and bioactive substances with stress resistance by combining patented compounds and expanding their use.

SAVE: Continuously optimize the production process and the product formula to improve product quality, focusing on meeting customers’ needs, providing them with cost-effective solutions, and helping seed sectors and large-scale growers to improve quality with reducing use rate and costs.

SERVICE: Sinochem International Crop Care will provide the comprehensive value-added services based on customers’ needs and innovate all-around “product + service” measures for “Seed Coating Agents +” by providing technical guidance and offering plant protection and nutritional products after emergence, as well as digital farming services for the whole industrial chain covering crop growth.

SYNERGY: By continuously strengthening the internal and external collaboration and industrial synergy of parent company Syngenta Group China, Sinochem Crop Care will evolve into the strongest comprehensive platform for seed services in China.