PINEYE® EC · Bio-Based Film-Forming Emulsion
Protect crop water status when it matters most.
PINEYE® EC is a bio-based terpene-polymer technology designed to help manage crop water loss under drought and other moisture-limiting conditions. Its flexible, semi-permeable film moderates transpiration while retaining controlled gas exchange—supporting crop resilience through critical reproductive and harvest-period windows.
What is a DpM film-forming antitranspirant?
A physical approach to reducing crop water loss
PINEYE® EC uses di-1-p-menthene (DpM), a bio-based terpene polymer, as its active film-forming component. DpM belongs to the film-forming class of crop protection antitranspirants.
Different antitranspirants reduce water loss in different ways. Metabolic antitranspirants, such as abscisic acid (ABA), induce stomatal closure through activity in guard cells. Reflective antitranspirants, such as kaolin, reflect sunlight and help lower leaf temperature.
Film-forming antitranspirants work by creating a polymer film on the leaf surface. The film may provide continuous or partial coverage. It increases resistance to the movement of water vapour and carbon dioxide (CO₂), helping to slow transpiration through a physical mechanism.
Mechanism Comparison
Different approaches to managing crop water loss
| Characteristic | Film-forming | Metabolic | Reflective |
|---|---|---|---|
| How it works | Forms a physical barrier around stomata to help retain tissue water | Uses hormonal signals to promote stomatal closure | Reflects sunlight to lower leaf temperature |
| Response to terminal drought | Potentially strong where water is protected at critical stages | Limited or inconsistent response | Results vary with conditions; mainly supports heat-stress management |
| Protection approach | Conserves water first and helps improve plant water status | Directly influences ABA, without physical water retention | Reduces temperature and water loss, but has weaker control over water allocation |
| Expected persistence | Typically longer, subject to product and conditions | Typically short-lived | Moderate; rainfall may reduce coverage |
Terpene-Polymer Film Technology
A semi-permeable film for water conservation and stress management
DpM (di-1-p-menthene) is a terpene-polymer film former derived from pine-resin distillates. As spray water evaporates, it concentrates and forms a continuous coating on the plant surface.
The film is hydrophobic, transparent and flexible. It adheres to the cuticle, helps resist rain and irrigation wash-off, and slows the movement of external liquid water across the leaf or fruit surface.
PINEYE® EC can partially shield stomata and reduce transpiration. This may help crops retain water and maintain plant water status during drought, drying wind or other periods of stress.
Once the film has dried, it remains attached to the cuticle as a transparent, soft and semi-permeable coating. Depending on crop growth and environmental degradation, its effect may remain on the leaf surface for approximately 7–25 days.
At harvest, the flexible DpM film can help moderate the expansion and contraction of seed heads (such as pods) or other sensitive organs caused by changes in humidity. This can help reduce mechanical stress associated with pod shatter and seed loss.
The film acts as a flexible physical buffer. It restricts rapid external water entry, while allowing excess internal moisture to leave gradually. By smoothing changes in tissue moisture, it may help reduce cracking caused by rapid wetting and drying cycles.
Semi-permeability
What does “semi-permeable” mean?
The “semi-permeability” of a DpM film means that it treats liquid water, water vapour and gases differently. Due to the hydrophobic nature of its terpene structure, the film can effectively limit the inward penetration of external rain, dew and irrigation water. This property helps provide strong resistance to rain wash-off.
However, the film does not form a fully sealed surface. Its microstructure and intermolecular spaces allow part of the internal water to leave as water vapour. They also permit partial exchange of oxygen and carbon dioxide. In this way, the film can help moderate the expansion and contraction stress of crop organs caused by changing humidity. For example, during harvest, it can help protect pods from cracking during repeated wetting and drying cycles.
Through formulation design, DpM can be developed for different downstream applications, including antitranspirants, pod sealants and film-forming adjuvants, also known as sticker-extenders.
| Antitranspirant | Helps reduce water loss and supports crops under drought, hot dry winds, cold drying winds or transplant stress. |
|---|---|
| Pod sealant | Helps manage canola, peas and similar crops at harvest by reducing pod shatter, seed loss and harvest-timing pressure. |
| Film-forming adjuvant | Helps improve the adhesion, rainfastness and persistence of tank-mix partners, including crop protection products and fertilisers. Typical persistence is 7–15 days. |
Case Study – Drought application
Protect crop water status through critical reproductive stages
Under severe terminal drought, preventing dehydration can be more important than maintaining the highest short-term photosynthetic rate. By reducing water loss, a DpM (di-1-p-menthene) film can help maintain relative water content (RWC), plant water potential and essential metabolism during reproductive development.
Higher RWC can support flowering, fertilisation and the formation of pods or seeds. The intended outcome is not greater photosynthesis alone, but better protection of the crop organs that determine final yield. Any application should be matched to the crop, the growth stage and the expected stress conditions.
Why can partial stomatal shielding support crops under terminal drought?
PINEYE® EC forms a physical, semi-permeable barrier that partly shields stomata. Stomata are the main route for water-vapour loss, but they are also needed for CO₂ uptake. The DpM film therefore creates an intentional trade-off: it slows transpiration and water loss, while also causing some reduction in stomatal conductance, gas exchange and photosynthetic rate.
Under severe terminal drought, the first threat to the crop is often dehydration, rather than a short-term reduction in carbon assimilation. Conserving water can help maintain leaf RWC, plant water potential and cell turgor when roots cannot supply sufficient water.
The film does not create a fully sealed surface. Its semi-permeable structure and incomplete stomatal coverage allow residual exchange of water vapour and gases. This helps retain part of the crop’s photosynthetic activity while reducing excessive water loss.
How can DpM improve water-use efficiency and protect reproductive development?
DpM can restrict stomatal conductance more strongly than it restricts photosynthetic rate. This can improve intrinsic water-use efficiency (WUEi): the crop uses less water for each unit of carbon assimilated.
The resulting water conservation can help maintain RWC, water potential and metabolic activity during flowering and fertilisation. These are stages at which drought can cause irreversible reproductive damage if plant tissues lose water too quickly.
Better water status can also reduce drought-related accumulation of endogenous ABA. In reported observations, ABA accumulation in reproductive tissue was reduced by around 21%. Lower ABA levels can help protect anther development, reduce pollen sterility and support the formation of spikes, pods and seeds. The crop may accept some reduction in carbon assimilation in exchange for stronger protection of yield-defining reproductive organs.
Application Guidance
Apply at the crop stage where water stress carries the greatest yield consequence
Timing is critical for film-forming antitranspirants. Apply DpM at the reproductive stage most sensitive to water deficit, usually when the organs that determine final fruit, pod or seed number are forming. At these stages, even a short period of water shortage can cause irreversible reproductive loss. The DpM film provides a physical water-management buffer through this vulnerable window.
Coverage is equally important. As DpM reduces transpiration by partially shielding stomata, application should target the leaf surfaces where stomata are most abundant. For crops with mainly abaxial stomata, such as grapes, ensure sufficient wetting of the lower leaf surface. In crops with stomata on both sides of the leaf, such as canola, dual-side coverage can improve transpiration control and application efficiency.
Rate, spray volume, equipment and drying conditions should be aligned with the applicable product label and local agronomic guidance. Field studies have used different concentrations and spray volumes according to crop and purpose. A uniform deposit is needed to form a functional film. Once dry, the DpM coating can remain active for approximately 7–25 days, depending on the formulation, crop growth and weathering conditions. Some pine-resin diene products require daylight or UV exposure for full film curing. After drying, often within about one hour, the flexible film can provide rainfastness and retain its water-management function after rainfall.
Critical growth stages
Examples of crop-specific timing windows
| Crop | Reproductive stage | Application guidance |
|---|---|---|
| Wheat | Flag-leaf emergence (Growth Stage 37, GS37) | Apply at flag-leaf tip emergence. Treatment at this stage can help protect subsequent ear development and reduce drought-related sterility. |
| Canola | Early flowering | Apply at early flowering, when many flowers and young buds are present. Improved plant water status at this stage can support pod formation and final pod number. |
| Grapes | Post-veraison | Apply after veraison, typically when berries reach approximately 14–15 °Brix, to support water-use management and delay ripening where this fits the crop-management objective. |
| Potato | Tuber initiation or moderate drought conditions | Apply at tuber initiation or when moderate drought develops. DpM can help maintain leaf relative water content (RWC) and support tuber number. |
| Field pea | Early seed development or pre-harvest | Apply during early seed development or before harvest. The film can support pod and seed retention, reduce pod shatter risk and help protect final yield. |
| Snap bean | Flowering or cold/drought stress | Apply at flowering or when crops face cold or drought stress. Improved water status can support growth and pod weight under stressful conditions. |
| Peanut | After canopy closure or during disease pressure, such as Sclerotinia activity | Use after canopy closure or during disease-management programmes. As a sticker-extender in a fungicide tank mix, DpM can support adhesion, rainfastness and treatment persistence while contributing to yield protection. |
| Alfalfa and vegetable seed crops | Early seed maturity | Apply at early seed maturity as a harvest-management aid. The flexible film can moderate humidity-driven stress and help reduce pod or seed-head opening and seed loss. |
Limitations
Performance depends on a viable agronomic and economic fit
DpM-type antitranspirants have traditionally been used in horticultural crops, including ornamental plants and high-value fruit, where crop value per hectare can better support the cost of an adjuvant. In broad-acre crops, profit margins are tighter and return on investment (ROI) is more sensitive. Drought occurrence and timing are also difficult to predict. Because DpM products perform best when applied during water-sensitive reproductive stages, an expected drought that does not occur can turn the cost of treatment into a direct economic loss.
Effective physical protection also depends on sufficient spray coverage. Meaningful spray volume, material use and labour may be needed to create a functional film across a large field. For example, canola stomata occur on both leaf surfaces, while conventional spraying may mainly reach the adaxial surface. Improving coverage, especially of the abaxial surface, may require higher spray volume or more demanding application practices. In addition, the film-forming chemistry and semi-permeable properties of DpM-based products can result in higher formulation cost than plant-oil or acetic-acid approaches.
Consider the trade-offs
• Partial stomatal shielding can reduce CO₂ entry and net carbon assimilation. Under drought, reported photosynthetic-rate reductions were approximately 26% in wheat and 18% in canola. Where water stress is absent, reduced photosynthesis may result in yield loss.
• Post-veraison application in grapes may reduce anthocyanin accumulation. This can affect colour development and wine-quality objectives, particularly where ageing potential is important.
• Canopy temperature may rise when transpiration is reduced. Reported leaf-temperature increases of around 1.1–1.8 °C may add heat load under extreme high-temperature conditions and partly offset the benefit of water conservation.
• DpM can provide strong adhesion and rainfast film formation, but it does not necessarily improve uptake of systemic fungicides. Its film primarily retains the spray deposit on the plant surface, unlike penetrating adjuvants such as organosilicones or alcohol ethoxylates, which can enhance active-ingredient uptake.
PRACTICAL COMPARISON
| DpM (di-1-p-menthene) | Water conservation, ABA moderation, film persistence and rainfastness. Higher formulation and application costs can limit use in broad-acre crops, particularly where drought timing is uncertain. |
| Plant oils | Lower-cost options for reducing crop water loss. Persistence and performance can depend on weather conditions, crop surface properties and application timing. |
| Acetic-acid routes | Very-low-cost emergency approaches intended to support crop survival under drought. They generally provide shorter persistence and less durable water-management performance. |
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