MONOMERS, ADJUVANTS, BIOFUNGICIDES
for Plant Pathogens and Diseases Control

GREEN & EFFECTIVELY

Plant diseases spread every year, with pathogens infecting and destroying leaves and roots. As a result, farmers have no choice but to discard affected crops and plants. The Long Island Horticultural Research and Extension Centre (HREC) of Cornell University warns that growers should be particularly mindful of four specific pathogens in 2017.

According to the UN Comtrade Database, the total global export value of fungicides (HS Code 380892) was $9.12 billion in 2015, with a total export volume of 991,188 tonnes. The global import value of fungicides stood at $9.10 billion, with an import volume of 877,879 tonnes. China held a 4.76% share of the export market, growing at a Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) of 12.22% from 2007 to 2015. Global trade data highlights a strong market trend, especially today, where eco-friendly and bio-based solutions are key market priorities.

CHINA EXPORT VALUE OF FUNGICIDES
by $ Million

The registration of fungicides by the Ministry of Agriculture (MOA) of China reflects a rapidly increasing demand. A total of 9,432 products have been registered with the International Commission of Agricultural and Marginal Activities (ICAMA). Wettable powders (WP) dominate as the key formulation format, accounting for 38.2% of the market share. Only one-third of the registered products are composite formulas, while two-thirds (65.13%) consist of single-dose formulations.

The registration situation in China also highlights new challenges: too many fungicide active ingredients are focused on field crops, indicating that research and development in formula innovation should be expanded to cover a broader range of applications.

At that time, fungicides such as Protect DF™, FenStop™, and Adorn™ demonstrated the strongest preventive efficacy. These products typically combine active ingredients like mancozeb, fenamidone, and fluopicolide. While these compounds exhibit excellent solubility and low toxicity, they can be toxic to fish and human skin, and some ingredients may degrade into toxic gases.

Over the long term, as policies and legislation become increasingly stringent regarding environmental protection, and as diseases develop resistance over time, bio-based monomers will play a key role in formulations when mixed with synthetic active ingredients. This represents a promising new approach to agricultural disease control.

NOTES. Protect DF™ is a trademark of Nufarm. FenStop™ is a trademark of OHP, Inc.. Adorn® is a registered brand of VALENT.

Terpene-based ingredients represent newly activated monomers for biofungicides, despite the fact that most plants naturally contain large quantities of terpenes. Typically, manufacturers source pine oil and turpentine, derived from Pinus species, for cleaning applications. Terpenes exhibit strong antibacterial properties. Following this line of research, it was discovered that α-(L)-Terpineol (purity 90%) is effective against plant pathogens (Kaiping Lai, 2007). For instance, when applied for 24 hours at a concentration of 3.0 mg/ml, it reduced the diameter of the bacteriostatic circle for tomato bacterial wilt from 90.0 mm to 13.3 mm.

Monomers extracted from various biosources demonstrate targeted antibacterial effects. Eugenol and Terpinen-4-ol, derived from cumin seeds (Cuminum cyminum L.), activate responses against Sclerotinia sclerotiorum, early blight, verticillium wilt, and damping-off disease (Linfeng Hu, 2008). Specifically, eugenol shows efficacy rates of 94.17% against rape Sclerotinia sclerotiorum, 91.24% against tomato early blight, and 78.48% against cotton verticillium wilt at a concentration of 200 mg/L. Additionally, Terpinen-4-ol demonstrates effectiveness rates of 71.68% against rice damping-off and 77.36% against wheat damping-off.

From a commercial perspective, terpenes as bioactive compounds are already incorporated into several market products. Examples include NU-FILM^® 17 by Miller Chemical & Fertilizer, LLC, and 2BY™ and 2EY™ by EDEN^®. Another product, Lachlan (K) Hawk^® 16CS, also utilises terpene-based technology. Our own brand, PINEYE^® EC emulsion, has successfully been applied as a sun-guard and wetting dispersant.