Biotalys NV, a transformative food and crop protection company, today announced the results from more than 100 field trials with its first, breakthrough biofungicide, BioFun-1, which is on track to launch in the U.S. in 2022, followed by global market introductions. Developing a new generation of protein-based biocontrol solutions, Biotalys aims to help farmers protect yields and reduce food waste by both preventing crop loss and extending post-harvest protection with sustainable and safe products.
In 2018, Biotalys demonstrated that BioFun-1 provided competitive and consistent protection against Botrytis cinerea when compared with commercial chemical fungicides, and outperformed biologicals in multiple crops and regions. In 2019, the company further expanded its testing program, confirming high efficacy and consistency when compared with reference commercial chemicals and integrated pest management (IPM) programs across multiple pathogens, crops and regions.
The 2019 field trial program took place across the U.S. and key European countries, and included more than 50 efficacy trials against major pests such as Botrytis cinerea and powdery mildew. These diseases considerably impact yields and quality in a wide range of fruit and vegetables crops, and are responsible for significant pre- and post-harvest food losses.
In solo applications, BioFun-1 provided high protection against multiple pathogens in over 85 percent of the trials compared to the untreated control. BioFun-1 showed a clean dose response curve, allowing dose rate modulation to adapt to the disease pressure conditions. Under severe disease pressure, a higher dose rate provides comparable protection to the chemical reference without the challenge of residues for growers.
In 89 percent of the trials, the IPM program with BioFun-1 in rotation with commercial fungicides performed on par with the standard chemical IPM program, resulting in comparable yield, fruit quality and post-harvest shelf life, while chemical residues were reduced by up to 68 percent.
“The innovative mode of action of the new Biotalys biofungicide demonstrated a dose-dependent control of economically important plant diseases like Botrytis and powdery mildew in the open field trials,” says Hans-Jürgen Rosslenbroich, an independent advisor to the company with more than 30 years of experience in product development, including biologicals. “Dose rate-dependent control of plant diseases in field trials that can be hardly seen with biologicals, especially when based on living organisms, is an important step in the development process and could be a unique differentiator for Biotalys’s innovative biofungicide.”
The next field trial program is already in process. Spanning more than 150 field trials in various crops and different environmental conditions in Europe, South Africa and the U.S., the 2020 field trial program will support the regulatory efficacy data package and will focus on the intrinsic activity of the biofungicide, field efficacy validation and characterization, and the impact of the end-season positioning in harvested fruits and vegetables. This field trial program complements ongoing product safety studies that will support the registration dossiers on track to be submitted later this year in the U.S. and Europe, as well as the development and implementation of the product supply chain.
“These results clearly indicate the unique potential of our powerful technology platform to deliver new food and crop protection solutions,” says Biotalys chief operating officer Luc Maertens. “Our first biofungicide provides growers with a reliable, novel mode of action product to maximize the yield of high-quality fruits and vegetables. The extended shelf life of tasty, appealing fruits and vegetables with substantially reduced residue levels adds significant value by addressing the needs of both consumers and growers, reducing food waste and securing global export.”
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