A new molasses bait spray, being developed by Cambridge-based Microbiotech in collaboration with NIAB, will lure Spotted-Wing Drosophila, an invasive fruit fly, to its death before it has a chance to lay its eggs on fruit crops. The new product is not attractive to beneficial insects and only uses a tiny amount of insecticide against one of UK horticulture’s biggest threats.
Prof Ralph Noble, CEO and co-founder of Microbiotech, presented in the Start-Up Showcase at REAP 2021. He says bait sprays offer a huge time-saving:
“The amount of time required to apply a bait spray is probably about 10% of the time required to apply a standard spray, just because you don’t need to be covering the entire crop. You also don’t have to return to fill up the tank so often because you’re applying 40L per hectare rather than 500L.”
Ralph is keen to meet both fruit and mushroom growers interested in trials.
“We would be happy to include them in our development programmes. It’s always nice to do experiments on sites where the grower is actively getting something out of it.
“We’d also like to meet any companies who are testing new products, new growing media and new control methods; we’d be interested in including those products in our experiments. We also do commercial trials for companies, testing products against pest and disease problems.”
Find out more at microbiotech.co.uk
REAP 2021: Changing Time(s) for Agriculture – 10th November 2021
Imagine a world where agriculture is not constrained by time. The ability to manage and manipulate time is increasing and REAP 2021 will explore the advances in technology and breakthroughs in science that is making this possible.
REAP brings together people from across the agri-tech ecosystem who believe that innovation is the engine for change. The conference bridges the gap between producer needs and technology solutions and showcases exciting agri-tech start-ups.