Brazil's biosafety regulator, CTNBio, has for the first time approved the commercial use of genetically modified microorganisms to produce biological crop-protection products, AgroPages reports, citing UkrAgroConsult. The approval went to Bioma, part of the Cogny group.

The GM microorganisms are not used in fields but inside closed industrial bioreactors, where they produce protective metabolites, enzymes and other compounds; the living modified cells are then removed or destroyed.

The approach is expected to make biological products more stable and effective than those based on natural strains, which can lose activity under ultraviolet light, rainfall and other field conditions.

The developers plan to use the new products mainly to protect soybeans, corn and sugarcane from diseases and environmental stress, and to launch products aimed at improving drought tolerance by 2027. The decision opens the way for wider use of biotechnology in crop-protection manufacturing in Brazil and could sharpen competition between biologicals and conventional agrochemicals.

Photo: Tiago Fioreze / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 3.0)

Source: AgroPages