A biopesticide manages to be as effective as sulfoxaflor in controlling aphids in melon

One of the agronomic challenges of Frutas Bollo, a company specializing in the production and marketing of fruits, especially citrus fruits and melons, is the sustainable management of pests, whose impact can generate losses of up to 80% of production when efficient management is not carried out.

To meet this important agronomic challenge, Kimitec carried out a successful investigation for Frutas Bollo, as part of the MAAVi Lab signed by both companies in April 2021.

The MAAVI IC selected three possible natural solutions for the field study and applied them from late June to early July, a time in which the crops are most prone to the development of aphids, to a very persistent aphid population (more than 100 individuals per leaf) in advanced melon crops with only 20 days to be harvested.

After 3 weeks of evaluations, using 2 applications at one-week intervals, Kimitec experts and the Bollo field team closely monitored the population concluding that one of its three developing biopesticides achieved the same efficacy as sulfoxaflor, the reference chemical.

"The finding represents a great advance for melon producers since they will be able to count on a substitute that has the same effectiveness as the chemical that cannot be used due to maximum residue limits (MRLs) restrictions, which translates into a more sustainable and safe agriculture," stated Juan Puchades, managing director of Bollo for Brazil and responsible for Sustainability at Frutas Bollo.

In addition, fieldwork has shown that blending Kimitec's new formulation with sulfoxaflor achieves almost 100% efficacy in just one application, halving the number of applications to control a persistent focus in times of increased need for efficient applications.

The biopesticide created by Kimitec, which is still under development, will be available in the USA, Mexico, and Brazil by 2023-2024 and on the European continent over a period of five years.

Show your story through below upcoming magazine! 

Contact: Joyce Wang (joyce@agropages.com)