Project description
Ozone treatment to save crops
Plant pests and diseases pose a serious threat to crops and can result in huge economic losses for farmers. Reasons are wide ranging – from climate change and agricultural intensification. These contribute to the vulnerability of crops. Current methods to fight crop pests and diseases can be environmentally harmful while bio-pesticides have limited effect. The EU-funded OXIR project aims to upgrade an innovative technology based on the anti-pathogen action of ozone (O3). The tool sprays aqueous ozone to greenhouse crops. The result is effective disease control and sanitation that permits EU farmers to save considerable amounts of money. This solution can successfully fight fungi, bacteria and viruses. Furthermore, it is cost-effective, environmentally sustainable and its application is fast.
Objective
Crop pests and disease have serious consequences for agriculture, in terms of economic losses and wastefulness of resources. In addition, according to the FAO, transboundary plant pests and diseases – growing in the last years because of globalization, trade and climate change, as well as reduced resilience in production systems due to decades of agricultural intensification - affect food crops, threatening food security. Agriculture is to be safe, healthy and sustainable, so it is essential to have healthy crops; they play a role in producing sufficient quantities of healthy foods and contribute to the quality of life.OXIR is an innovative technology for spraying aqueous ozone (O3) for disease control and sanitation of greenhouse crops, taking advantage of the powerful oxidation-based (hence non-selective) anti-pathogen action of ozone. OXIR offers two configurations adaptable to users’ needs a fixed and a mobile prototype, that will allow European farmers saving €6.000,00/ha/year due to reductions in chemicals and labour. Currently, existing solutions to fight crop pests and diseases include synthetic chemical pesticides – posing serious environmental concerns - and bio-pesticides – that are not strongly effective, as their pest spectrum is narrow. Compared to these solutions, OXIR is highly efficient against fungi and bacteria (85-99% removal) and viruses (90-99%); costs-effective: OXIR treatment saves working time (1 min. treatment; 20 min. safety interval) compared to biopesticides and chemicals; environmentally sustainable: OXIR is IPM compatible, sustainable, and does not leave polluting residues. The goal of the Phase 2 project is to upgrade OXIR from its current preproduction state to market readiness and develop the first commercial product.
Fields of science
- natural sciencesbiological sciencesmicrobiologymycology
- medical and health scienceshealth sciencesnutrition
- agricultural sciencesagriculture, forestry, and fisheriesagriculturehorticulturevegetable growing
- natural sciencesearth and related environmental sciencesatmospheric sciencesclimatologyclimatic changes
- social sciencessociologyglobalization
Programme(s)
Funding Scheme
SME-2 - SME instrument phase 2Coordinator
40068 San Lazzaro Di Savena
Italy
The organization defined itself as SME (small and medium-sized enterprise) at the time the Grant Agreement was signed.