Artal Smart Agriculture participated in the second edition of AgroMurcia, which brought together 700 professionals at the El Batel Auditorium in Cartagena on March 12 and 13 to analyze and discuss “New phytosanitary risks for Mediterranean agriculture.”
Juan Artal, CEO of the company founded in 1895, gave the presentation “Cry or evolve: Plant Immunotherapy,” a new biological therapy based on the identification or development of substances produced by plants or manufactured in a laboratory to improve, activate, strengthen, or enhance their immune systems, making them more resilient.
Artal Smart Agriculture has worked with the Jaume I University of Castellón (UJI) to find solutions that enable safe, sustainable, and highly productive production. As a result of this collaboration, this technology has been developed that stimulates the immune system of plants, “a set of defense mechanisms that plants have developed throughout their evolution to protect themselves from pests and diseases, the natural tool that has allowed them to survive for millennia.”
In 2018, it became the first company in the world to develop this immune system activator technology (Priming) and has been verifying its effectiveness in the field for over five years. “Through priming, we prepare the plant’s immune system to react more quickly, effectively, and for a longer period of time to a specific stress,” Juan Artal emphasized in his presentation.
This technology has proven effective against whiteflies, aphids, thrips, mites, and necrotrophic fungi. Among the success stories achieved since its launch, Artal cited the reduction in the presence of whiteflies in tomato plants thanks to the release of antixenotic volatile compounds; the decrease in the presence and damage of russet mite and Tuta absoluta in tomatoes; the significant reduction of aphids in peppers; the reduction in the number of red spider mite eggs, larvae, and adults in mandarin trees, thanks to the release of substances with antixenosis and antibiosis effects; the significant reduction in Botrytis damage in tomato plants, both on leaves and fruits; the decrease in red spider mite populations in strawberry plants stimulated with priming (up to 90% compared to unstimulated plants); and the reduction in damage from pear psylla and green leafhopper in grapevines.
In all these examples, a significant reduction in the use of phytosanitary products to control harmful organisms has been achieved without losing effectiveness.
In his presentation, Artal explained that priming acts “in favor of the plant and only on the plant.” It has no direct effect on pests and diseases, is broad-spectrum, and is suitable for all crops.