Innoveins Seed Solutions – Offering smart seed solutions for better plant productions

The quality of seed is the beginning of a good start in producing food, a range of natural resources and a green environment. Due to changing climatic and economic factors in combination with a growth of the human population in the world, the quality of seeds becomes even more important in the future. Therefore, research in seed technology is mandatory to achieve challenges where we have to deal with in the near future. Seed sciences and technologies process, test, and conserve food and agricultural seeds. The goal is to improve the quality of the seeds that farmer’s plant, and the food plants that people and livestock eat. Continuous advancements in seed sciences and technologies ensure seeds are developed, processed, and maintained with high quality. If a seed supply is not cared for properly, it will lose its ability to sprout, resulting in empty fields. Seed security is food security.

Innoveins Seed Solutions is a company who is focusing in providing support and research programs on seed technology for the agrochemical, seed and field services industry. It combines knowledge of coating, priming and phenotyping with high tech facilities to support on specific seed technological challenges and product development. The company offers research services to test seed coatings, agrochemical and biochemical seed treatments (GEP), priming, and seed sorting equipment of seeds. Innoveins Seed Solutions is a joint venture with Botany B.V. who has more than 15 years of experience in offering research services in the agricultural and horticultural industry. Innoveins Seed solution is a partner of Innoveins R&D activities.

Biological crop protection products

Due to market changes and changing regulations at the European level, more biological crop protection products are being developed as an addition to or replacement for chemical crop protection products. Due to the fact that seed treatment can be an efficient way of applying active ingredients and can form a stable basis for microorganisms at the seed, film coating technology is a desirable way of applying new products. Although the application procedure or sequence is important, understanding the new technology and the right trial setup are the basis for good results and an indication of potential efficacy.

Applying biological to seed by film coating

Multiple combinations of products are being applied using the film coat technique. This is a technique where multiple products with a similar mode of action are combined with a binder and an appropriate amount of water to form so-called slurry, which causes a uniform distribution of the treatment product around the seed. By using chemicals, compatibility was already an important topic for potential incompatible chemicals. Although biological, highly loaded substances, and living microorganisms, together with the selection of binders, application sequence, and product preservation within the formulation, are important to reach the full potential of the products applied with the seed.

Selecting the right trial setup

Selecting the right trial method is one of the key parameters for expressing biological seed treatment product performance. Innoveins Seed Solutions developed multiple testing platforms to test against soil-borne pathogens, seed-borne pathogens, Biostimulants, herbicides, and nematodes. Within those platforms, they are able to efficiently test a lot of modalities and treatment types in a short time at affordable costs. Due to the predictable inoculation and climate methods, they guarantee sufficient and controlled infection levels during trials.

Role in seed treatment testing and developments

Innoveins Seed Solutions is a turn-key research station for seed treatment testing and has strong relations with many crop protection and seed companies to be an independent company that can give feedback on product performance from early screening, formulation, registration, and demonstration of new products applied to seeds from. This is done for both a biological and analytical standpoint. As an expert collaboration partner, they also provide support as an independent quality control partner for biologicals and as an intermediary between investors or potential buyers of new seed treatment technologies, providing both parties with sufficient biological information to make potential collaboration decisions.

The future of biological seed treatment integration

Seed treatment is a strong growing market, and the implementation of biological and new chemical products is important to reduce the use of crop protection products in general for the replacement of biologicals and to replace some of the spray applications in the early plant growth phases. In the short term, they expect hybrid seed treatments to be biological but supplemented with regular products to reduce the total amount of chemicals used. They need good formulation adjuvants and microplastic free binders for compatibility, enhanced uptake efficiency, and reduction of leaching into the soil to make steps towards more sustainable agricultural practices. More important is to go towards fully biological solutions that can secure sufficient and safe food production. By having good testing methodologies that are adapted to biologicals, they can observe the potential of all the new technologies.

Niels Peeters, Managing Director

“We deliver a service to crop protection, specialty chemical and seed industry to support in formulation, product development, testing of small batches for research or registration trials.”