In recent years, with the acceleration of urbanization and the speed of land transfer, rural labor has been concentrated in cities, and labor shortage has become more and more prominent, resulting in higher labor costs; and the proportion of women in the labor force has increased year by year, and traditional heavy labor Medicines are facing challenges. Especially with the continuous implementation of pesticide reduction and efficiency enhancement, it can improve the utilization rate of pesticides, reduce the workload, and usher in a good opportunity for the development of labor-saving formulations with lighter application methods. Labor-saving and labor-saving functional preparations such as sprinkler drops, floating granules, film-spreading oils, U granules, and microcapsules have become the research hotspots of industry enterprises in recent years, ushering in an excellent opportunity for development. Their development and application have successively occupied a large market in paddy fields, including some cash crops, and the prospects are very broad.
The development of labor-saving preparations is getting better
In the past ten years, my country’s pesticide formulation technology has achieved rapid development, and the development trend towards environmental friendliness has become more and more obvious; improving performance, focusing on green safety, and reducing dosage and increasing efficiency are the only way for development.
Labor-saving formulations are formulation innovations that follow the trend. Specifically, the labor-saving research on pesticide formulations means that operators can save man-hours and labor in pesticide application operations through various means and measures, that is, to study how to use the most labor-saving and labor-saving methods to quickly and accurately apply pesticide active ingredients. Apply to the target area of crops.
Internationally, Japan is the fastest developing country in pesticide labor-saving technology, followed by South Korea. The development of labor-saving formulations has gone through three research and development processes from granules to large granules, effervescent formulations, flowable formulations, and then to film-spreading oil formulations, floating granules, and U granules.
In the past ten years, pesticide labor-saving formulations have also developed rapidly in my country, and the development and technology of related formulations have also been further promoted and applied in crops represented by paddy fields. At present, the labor-saving formulations of pesticides include film-spreading oil, floating granules, U granules, microcapsules, water surface diffusing agents, effervescent agents (tablets), large granules, high-concentration granules, smoke agents, bait agents, etc. kind.
In recent years, the number of labor-saving preparations registered in my country has increased year by year. As of October 26, 2021, China Pesticide Information Network shows that there are 24 registered products of large granules in my country, 10 products of film-spreading oil, 1 registered product of water surface diffusing agent, 146 smoke agents, 262 bait agents, and effervescent tablets. 17 doses and 303 microcapsule preparations.
Mingde Lida, Zhongbao Lunong, Xin’an Chemical, Shaanxi Thompson, Shandong Kesaiji Nong, Chengdu Xinchaoyang, Shaanxi Xiannong, Jiangxi Zhongxun, Shandong Xianda, Hunan Dafang, Anhui Huaxing Chemical, etc. are all on this track. ‘s leader.
The most used labor-saving preparations in paddy fields
To say that labor-saving preparations are used the most, and the technical system is relatively mature, it is still the paddy field.
Paddy fields are the crops with the most popular application of labor-saving preparations at home and abroad. After the development in recent years, the dosage forms of labor-saving preparations used in paddy fields in my country are mainly film-spreading oil, floating granules and water-surface-dispersed granules (U granules). Among them, film spreading oil is the most widely used.
The film-spreading oil is a dosage form in which the original pesticide is directly dissolved in the oil. Specifically, it is an oil formed by adding a special spreading and spreading agent to the ordinary oil. When used, it is directly dropped into the rice field to spread, and after spreading, it spreads on the water surface by itself to exert its effect. At present, domestic products such as 4% thifur·azoxystrobin film spreading oil, 8% thiazide film spreading oil, 1% spirulina ethanolamine salt film spreading oil, etc., are applied by dripping, which is very convenient . The composition of the film-stretching oil includes active ingredients, surfactants, and oil solvents, and its quality control indicators include active ingredient content, pH range, surface tension, equilibrium interfacial tension, moisture, spreading speed, spreading area, low temperature stability, thermal storage. stability.
Floating granules are a new type of pesticide formulation that floats directly on the water surface after being put into water, quickly spreads to the entire water surface, and then disintegrates and disperses in water. Its components mainly include pesticide active ingredients, floating carrier fillers, binders, disintegrating dispersants, etc. The composition of floating granules includes active ingredients, floating carrier, and disintegrating dispersant, and its quality control indicators include appearance, disintegration time, floating rate, diffusion distance, disintegration rate, and disintegration.
U granules are composed of active ingredients, carriers, binders and diffusing agents. When applied in paddy fields, the granules temporarily settle to the ground, and then the granules resurface to float. Finally, the active ingredient dissolves and diffuses in all directions on the water surface. The earliest development was the preparation of cypermethrin for the control of rice water weevil. The composition of U granules includes active ingredients, carriers, binders, and diffusing agents, and its quality control indicators include appearance, time to start floating, time to complete floating, diffusion distance, disintegration rate, and disintegration.
According to industry insiders, Japan and South Korea have promoted the use of U granules and floating granules on a large scale, but there are relatively few domestic studies, and no related products have been put on the market yet. However, it is believed that there will be floating granule products on the market in China in the near future. At that time, some conventional water surface floating effervescent granules or effervescent tablet products will be successively replaced in rice field medicine, which will allow more domestic rice paddy products to be used. Farmers benefit from the way they are applied.
Microencapsulated preparations become the next competitive high ground in the industry
Among the existing labor-saving preparation categories, microencapsulated preparations have been the focus of industry attention in recent years.
Pesticide microcapsule suspension (CS) refers to a pesticide formulation that uses synthetic or natural polymer materials to form a core-shell structure micro-container, coats the pesticide in it, and suspends it in water. It includes two parts, a capsule shell and a capsule core, the capsule core is an active ingredient of pesticides, and the capsule shell is a film-forming polymer material. Microencapsulation technology was first used abroad, including some insecticides and fungicides, which have overcome technical and cost problems, and have also been vigorously developed in China in recent years. According to the inquiry of China Pesticide Information Network, as of October 26, 2021, the number of microencapsulated preparation products registered in my country totaled 303, and the registered formulations included 245 microcapsule suspensions, 33 microcapsule suspensions, and seed treatment microcapsule suspensions. 11 granules, 8 seed treatment microcapsule suspension-suspension agents, 3 microcapsule powders, 7 microcapsule granules, 1 microcapsule, and 1 microcapsule suspension-aqueous emulsion.
It can be seen that the number of microcapsule suspensions registered in domestic microcapsule preparations is the largest, and the types of registered dosage forms are relatively small, so there is huge space for development.
Liu Runfeng, director of the R&D Center of Yunfa Biological Group, said that pesticide microcapsules, as an environmentally friendly formulation, have the advantages of long lasting effect, safety and environmental protection. One of them is a research hotspot in recent years, and it is also the next new highland for manufacturers to compete. At present, domestic research on capsules is mostly concentrated in universities and scientific research institutes, and the basic theoretical research is relatively thorough. Because there are quite a few technical barriers in the production process of microcapsule preparations, less than 100 are actually commercialized, and there are almost no microcapsule preparations in China. Capsule products are pesticide preparation enterprises with core competitiveness.
In the current fierce market competition, in addition to the indestructible status of the old foreign companies in the hearts of the Chinese people, domestic innovative companies such as Mingde Lida, Hailier, Lier, and Guangxi Tianyuan rely on quality to break through the siege. Among them, Mingde Lida broke the impression that Chinese products are not as good as foreign companies on this track.
Liu Runfeng introduced that microencapsulation technology is the core competitiveness of Mindleader. Mindleader has developed compounds such as beta-cyhalothrin, metolachlor, prochloraz, and abamectin: There are more than 20 products that have been certified and are queuing up for registration in four major sectors: fungicide microcapsule series, insecticide microcapsule series, herbicide microcapsule series, and seed coating microcapsule series. Various crops have been covered, such as rice, citrus, vegetables, wheat, apples, corn, apples, grapes, peanuts, etc.
At present, the microcapsule products of Mingde Lida that have been listed or are about to be listed in China include Delica® (25% beta-cyhalothrin and clothianidin microcapsule suspension-suspension agent), Lishan® (45% essence Metolachlor Microcapsule Suspension), Lizao® (30% Oxadiazone·Butachlor Microcapsule Suspension), Minggong® (30% Prochloraz Microcapsule Suspension), Jinggongfu ® (23% beta-cyhalothrin microcapsule suspension), Miaowanjin® (25% clothianidin·metalaxyl·fludioxonil seed treatment microcapsule suspension-suspension), Deliang® (5 % Abamectin Microcapsule Suspension), Mingdaoshou® (25% Prochloraz·Blastamide Microcapsule Suspension), etc. In the future, there will be more innovative combination formulations made into microcapsule suspensions. With the landing of foreign registration, Mingde Lida’s microcapsule products will gradually be promoted and applied globally.
Talking about the future research and development trend of pesticide microcapsules in the future, Liu Runfeng revealed that there will be the following five directions: ① from slow-release to controlled-release; ② environmentally friendly wall materials instead of synthetic wall materials to reduce the release of “microplastics” in the environment; ③ based on Formula design for different application scenarios; ④ Safer and more environmentally friendly preparation methods; ⑤ Scientific evaluation criteria. Improving the quality stability of microcapsule suspension products will be the focus of enterprises represented by Mingde Lida in the future.
To sum up, with the in-depth advancement of pesticide reduction and efficiency enhancement, the market demand and potential of labor-saving formulations will be further tapped and released, and its future will be unlimited. Of course, there will also be more excellent preparation companies pouring into this track, and the competition will be more intense. Therefore, people in the industry call for domestic pesticide companies to further strengthen the research and development of pesticide formulations, increase scientific research investment, explore the application of technology in pesticide processing, promote the development of labor-saving formulations, and better serve agriculture.
Post time: May-05-2022