Application of Modification of Mannosylerythritol Lipids (MELs) to Adjuvants for Agrochemicals

Abstract

Adjuvants have been used worldwide to improve the efficiency of crop protection products. There are a wide variety of adjuvants such as surfactants, oils, solvents and salts. Development of safer crop protection products including adjuvants would be anticipated with growing demand for sustainable agriculture. Biosurfactants which are surface-active agents produced by various microorganisms have unique properties such as low critical micelle concentration, low toxicity, biodegradability and environmentally friendly nature. Hence, using biosurfactants as adjuvants for agrochemicals has a potential of better adjuvant effect and safer properties than using chemical adjuvants. The purpose of this study is to evaluate the use of biosurfactants as adjuvants in the field of crop protection. We investigated the enhancing fungicide efficacy of several biosurfactants against the plant diseases in pot test for screening of adjuvants. Among the tested biosurfactants, mannosylerythritol lipids (MELs) showed the best efficacy, and apparently enhanced the efficacy of coexisting fungicide. Here, I present the efficacy trials for the MELs compared with existing chemical adjuvants in greenhouse or field.