Drastic changes in the climate and the constant threat of pests and diseases are two of the most difficult challenges in agriculture. To protect the plants, an effective solution is the use of technologies that increase the level of antioxidants, helping to maintain cellular integrity, strengthening the plants against bad weather conditions, and making them hardier and more productive throughout their life cycle. XStress, developed by Ecoculture, has been shown to be an effective tool in the fight against abiotic stress caused by unfavourable environmental conditions and it significantly reduces the effects of diseases caused by viruses, fungi and bacteria.
Its effectiveness has been observed in crops with Lasiodiplodia in Brazilian mangos, with less incidence in the treated areas; it works successfully in fighting against Panama disease in bananas and ‘greening’ in South American citrus fruit; and recently it has managed to reduce the symptoms of ToBRFV on tomatoes, allowing the affected plants to continue producing fruit.
The fungi family Botryosphaeriaceae includes several plant pathogen genres that cause disease on a wide variety of plants, and they are one of the main threats to avocados. They can cause serious diseases that affect their health and production, causing losses in yield and quality, regressive death or descending necrosis of the branches, along with branch chancre and rotting of the fruit or stalks. With the XStress programme, affectation has been reduced by over 70% in trials on 1-2 year old Hass crops on farms in Malaga that showed moderate damage due to the fungi, and which had even caused the death of some plants.
According to the manager, Ángel Ruiz Serna, “XStress improves the absorption of essential nutrients, which strengthens the plants’ natural defences and makes them less susceptible to the pathogens. This technology allows the plants to live alongside the diseases, maintaining their growth and productivity at optimum levels.”
