At least one third of the world's agricultural crops depend on pollination by insects and other animals," FAO. Politec® is a natural and ecological product that increases the percentage of fruit set, quality and yield of crops, increasing their profitability. The set of characteristics (e.g. shape, colour, size, nectar and smell) that each flower uses to attract a pollinator and transport pollen from one flower to another, helping reproduction and the creation of fruit, is known by scientists as floral syndrome. Plants synthesize special substances known as essential oils. These substances are mixtures of various chemical compounds that give the characteristic aroma to flowers, fruits, bark, leaves and seeds. Floral aromas constitute an ancient and important form of communication between angiosperms and their pollinators, natural enemies and herbivores. In many cases, plants concentrate these substances in both flowers and fruits, and act as chemical messengers to attract pollinators. Volatile floral aromas are generally composed of mixtures of terpenes, fatty acid derivatives, aromatic compounds and other substances emitted by flowers.
Characteristics POLITEC®
POLITEC®, a powerful, zero-waste attractant for pollinating insects, formulated with thymol and aromatic plant extracts, which concentrates and keeps pollinators in the flower of the orchard of interest for longer, making this process much more efficient.
The timely application of POLITEC® during flowering allows for optimizing the resources invested in hives, since Politec, with its high attractive power, increases the number of effective visits by pollinators to the flower, improving the pollination process, increasing the percentage of setting, retention, crop yield and consequently their profitability.
An essential advantage of POLITEC® over the competition is that it is formulated with Promicell® technology, which encapsulates and protects the natural extract from environmental degradation, increasing the effectiveness of the product, promoting homogeneous application, decreasing surface tension, increasing the surface area covered by application in plant tissues and does not produce phytotoxicity.
Effects POLITEC®
It improves pollination, the percentage of setting and the yield of treated crops. It complements the actions of the wind and spontaneous self-pollination of the flower. It favours the yield and biomass production in different crops. It promotes the establishment of beneficial fauna. POLITEC® produces an attraction effect that delimits the work area of pollinators, increasing the number of effective visits to flowers and reducing the escape to other types of flowers not belonging to the crop of interest. Its timely application allows optimising the resources invested in pollination and, consequently, improving the profitability of agricultural producers (seeds and fruits).
The most important benefits that we can highlight from POLITEC® are that it increases the profitability of your crops; improves the percentage of setting, retention and yield of treated crops; improves the quality and quantity of production; and encourages the establishment of beneficial fauna.
FIGURE 1. Effect of POLITEC® exclusive aromatic compounds on pollination.
POLITEC® has proven to be an effective Zero Waste solution for pollination, keeping the pollinator on the flower for longer and increasing foraging.
RECOMMENDATION
POLITEC® is suitable for all types of crops. It is recommended to apply between 1.0 and 1.5 L/ha at two flowering times: 1st at the beginning of flowering 10 to 20% when flowers are open and the 2nd application at 60-70% when flowers are open. It is very important not to mix with other products, in order to avoid masking its aromatic effect.
Sources:
Journal of Fruit Growing.
R&D Department,
MIP Agro.
