A Ctaex project proposes to use garlic residues as a natural pesticide

A Ctaex project proposes using garlic residues as a natural pesticide

26/10/2015

Spain. The National Agricultural Technology Center "Extremadura" (Ctaex) will present in Brussels a project whose objective is the use of crop residues such as garlic, broccoli or cauliflower and the whey generated in the production of cheese to be used as natural pesticides.

As reported in a press release by Ctaex, this project will be exposed within the final day of dissemination of results of the LIFE + Savecrops project, whose objective is to obtain a polyvalent biocide from local agro-food waste.

The project starts from the difficulty of managing in a sustainable way the enormous volume of waste generated in the industrial agro-food processing and the negative effect on the environment that can be produced by production elements, especially synthetic products such as pesticides, fertilizers and regulators. increase. For this reason, Ctaex and the company Extremeña de Abonos Líquidos (EAL) have developed the necessary work to propose a solution to these two problems with the support of the LIFE + initiative.

This program of the European Union (EU) is the only financial instrument dedicated exclusively to the environment, conservation of nature and climate action and since 1992 has co-financed 4.000 projects, contributing to the protection of the environment with 3,4 trillions of euros.

The objective of the project is to obtain active ingredients with a biocidal capacity of crop residues such as garlic, broccoli and cauliflower and of the whey generated in the production of cheese to be used as natural pesticides for the control of a large number of plant pathogens.

Once identified, the other major objective of the project has been to develop an industrial methodology for the extraction and development of the formulated to be applied in the field. This biocidal activity has been evaluated on the three most important crops of the Extremadura region, such as tomato industry, olive and vine.

Ctaex currently works on another LIFE project project aimed at reducing greenhouse gases (GHG) in agro-industry, approved in the 2013 call, which seeks the mitigation of climate change associated with certain agro-industrial activities through the cultivation of native algae for the obtaining of a soil improver.

In addition, Ctaex participates in six other European projects of different programs, including Biocopac, which aims to develop a biological-based coating for metal containers intended for feeding from by-products of the tomato industry.

Other projects are the Satin, which investigates the development of new food products through processes that will improve the feeling of fullness; the Value4 Wool, which seeks to take advantage of low quality sheep wool, considered waste, as organic fertilizer.

SOURCE: Besana.es