Bio-Gene Technology posts positive results from insecticide trial

Date:05-14-2021

By Lisa Simcock

Agtech development company Bio-Gene Technology (BGT) has seen positive results from a trial of its insecticide technology, Flavocide.

Last year, the company signed a research and collaboration agreement with Grains Research and Development Corporation (GRDC), BASF and Queensland's Department of Agriculture & Fisheries (DAF).

The company tested Flavocide as a potential stored-grain pest control measure over nine months. Notably, this is stage three of the collaboration program.

Today, Bio-Gene has released the results from the trial, which showed positive efficiency after an initial three-month review.

During the trial, Flavocide was able to control all of the key stored grain pests,
being the lesser grain borer, flour beetle, saw-toothed grain beetle, flat grain beetle and rice weevil.

Bio-Gene, GRDC, BASF and DAF have all agreed to extend the trial out to nine months, based on these positive results.

Bio-Gene CEO Richard Jagger is pleased with these trial results.

"This gives all of the collaboration partners the confidence to continue the trial to its completion, scheduled for a total of nine months. The trial program is designed to show that the combination product can control the key pests for a commercially acceptable time period," he said.

"The target of nine months provides industry participants with more flexibility over viable storage periods for grain, to allow for the optimum time for use or shipment, which can ultimately deliver more value. These interim results
provide additional confidence in the potential for this technology to deliver a commercial product to provide control against a full range of pests," he added.

Currently, there is no single product that controls all major grain-store pests. The incidence of pest resistance is rising in Australia and around the world, in some cases, losses of up to 70 per cent of grain in storage have been attributed to pests.