Editorials
Natural bio stimulants which respond to the challenges of agriculture
05/10/2018
Increasing production and improving its quality characteristics is the challenge that farmers face every day. However, the increasingly frequent occurrence of extreme weather events such as prolonged drought periods followed by periods of heavy rain or with temperatures largely above or below seasonal averages make it increasingly difficult to achieve these goals.
To address these new challenges, the ILSA team of agronomists, biotechnologists, chemists and engineers has succeeded in creating the VIRIDEM® program, a series of biostimulants of natural origin which help plants and therefore farmers to face the challenges of a changing climate, thereby achieving productions with high yields and quality standards even in adverse weather conditions.
The Ilsa bio stimulants are characterised by:
- high agronomic effectiveness
- choice of natural raw materials, of animal and vegetable origin, from renewable sources
- technologically advanced production processes able to reduce environmental impact by drastically reducing atmospheric emissions and waste production
Which are the production processes used for producing the bio stimulants in the VIRIDEM® program?
The bio stimulants in the VIRIDEM® program derive from ILSA’s revolutionary idea of integrating two production processes with high technological and innovation contents:
But what is the SFE® (Supercritical Fluids Extraction) technology, the process of supercritical CO2 extraction?
It is a process used in the pharmaceutical, nutraceutical and food sectors where it is necessary to obtain products of the highest purity which must guarantee the highest quality standards and one that only ILSA in the world uses to obtain bio stimulants for agriculture. It is a process through which carbon dioxide (CO2), a gas normally present in the atmosphere, is brought to particular conditions of temperature and pressure inside dedicated extractors. Thus, the CO2 loses its gaseous identity and takes on the properties typical of fluids, acquiring a unique extraction capacity. At the end of this extraction process, the CO2 returns to being a gas, releasing the extracted molecules, it is then recovered, filtered and made available once again for a new extraction cycle. Only small fractions of carbon dioxide are lost and return to the atmosphere from where they were taken.
These characteristics ensure it is considered a Green Technology which guarantees environmental sustainability to the process and the FDA (Food and Drug Administration - USA) has conferred the GRAS certification (Generally Recognised as Safe) to this industrial process.
The use of this technology allows:
- extracting important bioactive molecules with high efficiency
- guaranteeing the effectiveness of the bioactive molecules extracted and of the products obtained from these
- obtaining microbiologically stable extracts which do not require preservatives
- minimising the environmental impact of the extraction process, avoiding the introduction into the environment of harmful solvents
Thanks to the combined use of FCEH® technology (Fully Controlled Enzymatic Hydrolysis) and SFE® (Supercritical Fluid Extraction), the VIRIDEM® brand bio stimulants stand out among all other bio stimulants for the reliability of the results obtained, their innovation, sustainability and above all for their ability to interact with the plant, allowing farmers to achieve productions with high quality-quantity standards.
All the bio stimulants and specific action products in the VIRIDEM® program are distinguished by this mark. Always check that the bio stimulants purchased bear this mark!
