Amētros™ from Plant Impact
EU: Precision brought to pit control
Amētros™, from the British plant science company Plant Impact, enhances the tree’s calcium management and, in trials, has demonstrated a reduction of up to 75% in the incidence of bitter pit, a physiological disorder that disfigures the fruit with small, bitter-tasting lesions.
“The disorder is brought about by low levels of calcium in the fruit, compounded by poor calcium distribution within the tree during fruit development,” explains Paul Thomas, technical marketing manager with Plant Impact. “The standard treatment for many years has been applications of calcium nitrate or the harsher calcium chloride, or formulations and mixes based on these generic fertilisers.”
While these products can produce acceptable improvements, results are often unpredictable. Early season applications of calcium chloride can be problematic, while applications made during warm weather may lead to scorch.
“Growers have tolerated existing calcium sprays because there has not been a technically advanced alternative,” Paul explains, “but these products are outdated and inefficient. Essentially, they work on the principle that if you throw enough calcium at the plant, it’s bound to take enough of it in to avert the bitter pit problem.
“Yet in all other areas of agronomy and crop protection, we’re moving to precision applications of carefully-measured active substances,” he points out. “Amētros now offers growers that same approach for effective calcium management, using less active substance yet with greater effectiveness.”
The research and development effort behind Amētros has developed a more ‘plant-safe’ form of calcium that is partnered with zinc in a new patent-pending formulation. Together, the product improves the mechanism by which calcium is delivered to the plant. Comparison of Amētros with leading conventional solutions reveal that Amētros reduces the calcium applied by more than 80% - and reduces the incidence of bitter pit by 30% vs. generic calcium chloride sprays and 54% vs. untreated controls.
“In trials, Amētros has delivered typical bitter-pit reduction of between 50 and 75% against untreated controls and has brought about a significant improvement in fruit quality, not only at harvest but also in storage,” Paul notes.
But it’s the improvement in convenience of applications that Plant Impact expects will impress growers the most. With Amētros, growers will need to make fewer applications than alternative products, which reduces the number of spray equipment hours or eases operator work schedules through the season - generating significant potential for cost-saving. What’s more, the new, ‘plant-safe’ formulation allows early season and warm weather applications.
“Growers should start to use Amētros at the pink-bud stage,” advises Paul, “and we’d recommend 6-8 applications throughout the season, considerably fewer than existing alternatives. Amētros is tank-mix compatible with most fungicides and insecticides, although we’d always recommend best practice by using a jar test.”
For more information:
Paul Thomas
Plant Impact
Tel: +44 (0)7786 175737
Email: [email protected]
