Successful in Brazil, bioinput pack that combines inoculant and fungicide reaches Argentina

Emilia Monteleone, Development Manager at Koppert Argentina

The company Koppert Argentina presented a ″bioinput pack″ for this season that combines an inoculant and a protective fungicide.

Emilia Monteleone, Development Manager at Koppert Argentina, explains that this is a biological fungicide based on Trichoderma harzianum in 100% organic packaging.

In addition to the biofungicide, the pack combines an inoculant ″with a protector that allows the application of the product up to 25 days before planting and controls all fungi in the soil and seeds,″ she explained.

″This solution has already been sold in Brazil for five years, it has a very high concentration of conidia per milliliter of product and is well above the solutions available in Argentina,″ Monteleone added.

According to her, this product is applied to the seed, but the application is being evaluated with the crop already implanted.

″In these last two campaigns, Koppert carried out more than 140 tests across the country with the products that are currently offered to the market and the result is the same control as a chemical with a 7% increase in soybean yield compared to the chemical,″ she said.

According to test data, if azospirillum is added as a growth promoter, this percentage rises to 11%, even in adverse weather conditions.

″These results are very encouraging because these solutions also do not generate resistance and can be applied in peri-urban areas without risk to the applicator or the area, It is a 100% green strip product and also controls pathogens in the long term. This data is without any other foliar applications,″ said the Development manager at Koppert Argentina.

According to the manufacturer, applying Trichoderma strains to the soil controls the level of sclerotia that remains long term, according to a proven hypothesis in Brazil.

″Therefore, the reappearance of the disease in other campaigns decreases significantly in incidence. The next step is to combine these biofungicides with biological insecticides to control mites, helicoverpa, or other pests,″ Monteleone added.

The executive revealed that insecticides are very close to being registered to enter Koppert's portfolio in Argentina.

″We are also working on biological insecticides to control caterpillars in corn and even testing a new concept of biological insecticides as pest mitigants,″ she said.

″The fact that the word bioinsecticides or biofungicides exists means that the requirements demanded of that product for registration are the same as those of chemical products. The barrier of entry requires three years of trying and results. All Koppert products pass the highest demands that Argentina requires. We currently have two bioinsecticides about to be registered, which generates great interest in thinking about the medium-term future,″ she said in conclusion.

(Editing by Leonardo Gottems, reporter for AgroPages)