Looking for more information about Fyteko’s products? Skip straight to the bottom of this page.
But we’re scientists; we like to have the whole picture. You might find this quick primer about biostimulants useful, before you read about our products.
« A biostimulant is a material that contains substances and/or micro-organisms whose function, when applied to plants or the rhizosphere, is to stimulate natural processes to enhance/benefit nutrient uptake, nutrient efficiency, tolerance to environmental stress and crop quality.»
Council European Biostimulants Industry
What are biostimulants ?
Applied to both plants and soils, biostimulants improve crop vigour, yields, quality, and tolerance of abiotic stresses such as extremes of temperature or rainfall.
Biostimulants can be single molecules, compounds or even micro-organisms.
As with conventional plant protection products, no single mode of action applies to all biostimulants. But a common characteristic of all plant biostimulants is that they affect the plant’s metabolism in some way. This might be something as simple as more effective nutrient absorption to improve nutrient use efficiency, or more complicated effects that can ‘turn on’ certain biochemical processes within the plant.
What are biostimulants ?
Applied to both plants and soils, biostimulants improve crop vigour, yields, quality, and tolerance of abiotic stresses such as extremes of temperature or rainfall.
Biostimulants can be single molecules, compounds or even micro-organisms.
As with conventional plant protection products, no single mode of action applies to all biostimulants. But a common characteristic of all plant biostimulants is that they affect the plant’s metabolism in some way. This might be something as simple as more effective nutrient absorption to improve nutrient use efficiency, or more complicated effects that can ‘turn on’ certain biochemical processes within the plant.
« A biostimulant is a material that contains substances and/or micro-organisms whose function, when applied to plants or the rhizosphere, is to stimulate natural processes to enhance/benefit nutrient uptake, nutrient efficiency, tolerance to environmental stress and crop quality.»
Council European Biostimulants Industry
Plant metabolism
Improving efficiency to increase yield and enhance quality
Abiotic stresses
Increasing crops’ tolerance and recovery
Nutrients
Facilitating assimilation, translocation and use
Quality
Enhancing produce attributes, such as sugar content,
colour, fruit seeding, etc
Water use
Improving water-use efficiency
Soil fertility
By fostering the development of complementary soil
micro-organisms
How do biostimulants differ from conventional crop inputs?
Biostimulants and fertilisers operate through different mechanisms, regardless of the presence of any nutrient content in the biostimulant.
Biostimulants differ from crop protection products because they act only on the plant’s vigour. They have no direct action against pests or disease.
Crop biostimulants therefore represent a complementary input, alongside crop nutrition and crop protection.
Are biostimulants regulated?
The main role of biostimulants is neither crop protection nor crop nutrition. Until 2022, there was no regulation for biostimulants within the European Union, United States, or other major agricultural legislations. But in July 2022, the European Commission introduced Regulation (EU) 2019/1009. which now includes a specific regulatory category for plant biostimulants, a move welcomed by Fyteko.
What distinguishes Fyteko’s biostimulant products?
Every factor or unfavourable condition that negatively affects a plant’s metabolism or its physiology can be defined as “plant stress”. This stress can provoke injuries to cells or tissues. If these are severe, the plant might die, but even mild stress will reduce plant growth and development.
While many biostimulant manufacturers claim product success with combinations of nutrients such as amino acids, seaweed extracts, or humic acids, the technology within Fyteko’s first products – NURSPRAY and NURSEED – relies on a completely different ‘mode of action’.
To find it, we went back to square one. Take the plant, expose it to stressing conditions, then look at what happens to plant metabolism. This revealed the existence of signal molecules within the plant, produced in response to stress, which act as a trigger for further biochemical processes.
Inspired by nature, our scientists created a replica signal molecule, like those found in the plant. We found it would trigger the same responses. By stimulating those stress responses in a healthy plant, we discovered that it would subsequently ‘recognise’ environmental stress, triggering the response again.
Effectively we had ‘primed’ the plant with a single signal molecule, thus improving its resilience to future abiotic stress. Unlike extracts with a mix of untargeted molecules, this single molecule removes all potential interferences and creates, for the first time, a fully identifiable mode of action that defeats abiotic stress impacts on crops.
A unique, precision molecule with an identifiable, specific effect on the crop
A biostimulant focused on solving abiotic stress
Systemic, long-lasting crop effect
Non-toxic, with benefits for soil micro-organisms
What about other biomolecules in your development pipeline? What are they?
We’re building Fyteko around a bio-based technology discovery platform. Its goal is to identify and develop biomolecules – a molecule produced by living organisms, that is essential for a defined biological process – that can perform a role as agricultural biostimulants, herbicide bioenhancers, or other biocontrol products.
A bioenhancer improves the bioavailability and bioefficacy of an active ingredient, but they have no active effect themselves. Bioenhancers can work in many different ways, with multiple benefits: lowered application rates, improved resource-efficiency, reduced resistance, lower costs.
Identification and development of an appropriate biocontrol product could, for example, give rise to a bio-based product with valuable insecticidal or fungicidal properties.
Our products
NURSEED® Seed Treatment Biostimulant: Formulated specifically to aid seedling establishment under conditions of stress, NURSEED® is a long-acting seed treatment. NURSEED® provides a safe and easy-to-use solution for robust early development, for use in soybeans, peas, beans and maize.
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NURSPRAY® is a foliar spray formulation that will trigger a plant’s response to abiotic stress by stimulating it to activate its internal defence mechanism. Applied as a preventative treatment, NURSPRAY® can help a crop tolerate and recover more efficiently from conditions such as drought, extremes of temperature, or erratic rainfall. Effective 24 hours after application, and tank-mix compatible with fertilisers or crop protection products, NURSPRAY® is suitable for soybeans, peas and beans.
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NURSOIL® : A soil-drench, NURSOIL® is based on a single signal molecule. It triggers the plant’s internal defence mechanism, priming it to respond to subsequent environmental stress. NURSOIL® helps a crop tolerate and recover more efficiently from abiotic stress conditions such as drought, extremes of temperature, or erratic rainfall.
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