A plant-based pesticide ‘Meliatron’ pending approval in Argentina

The Institute for Research in Natural Resources and Sustainability at the Catholic University of Cordoba (UCC) in the Cordoba province in Argentina has developed a product, based on an exotic species called “Paraiso” that is ready to enter the market.

 

Called “Meliatron”, the formulation can be used as an insecticide, fungicide and organic repellent. 

 

The registration for the product is in the name of Conicet, the Catholic University and a company Ovmi, but it is awaiting approval from the National Service of Health and Agro-Food Quality (Senasa).

 

The director of the entity explained that, "The problem is that the regulation for these products works for pure compounds, but this product is an extract with hundreds of compounds so it is very difficult to analyze all these substances.”

 

However, they are confident that Senasa will grant approval soon.

 

Researchers from the institute have been carrying out studies about the native plants that have compounds with pharmacological activity.

 

They studied native plants from scratch with the aim of detecting active principles to create new medicines or pesticides. They worked with 150 native plants, performing a screening, which would test each of them against different pathogens or pests.

 

The researchers explained that they were looking for antibiotics that can fight resistant bacteria, current antibiotics, antitumor and inhibitors of some enzymes that are associated with some pathology and which improve the effectiveness of chemotherapy treatments.