Formulation developement fo a repellant against "game bite" to be used for forestry and vineyards

Status

completed

Summary

Current Situation

In Austria there is no conventional utilization of sheep fat. Within this project we wanted to demonstrate how this "waste" could become a renewable raw material and help to raise the added value. A repellant with sheep fat (by smell) to be used for forestry and vineyards should be formulated as suspension concentrate and wetable powder or wetable granulate to get a stabilized formulation with high quality. Efficacy and stability were tested for different formulations and different uses.

Content & Targets

The team consisted of the sheep fat producer, the formulator (proposer) and two distinguished future customers. Biological trials were carried out by the leadership of a research unit. The proposer was responsible for project coordination, chemical development of the formulation and microbiological experiments. External test for inproofing the quality of the test formulations (stability, shelf life, ... ) were done. Scale up of the production process was part of the project as well as field trials, which were used for development, registration and marketing purpose.

Permanent Registrations could be granted for forest and vineyards. Other uses should follow. The product should be marketed in relevant european countries.

Methodology

Within this project, scheduled for two years, optimally four applications could be realized. The first month the test formulations had been developed. Efficacy and phyto-toxicological effects were tested on field trials after this first time period. Lab experiments and field trials were done in parallel.

The quality of the test products were determined by shelf life, stability and influences of the sheep fat "production" on this criteria. A guideline of the production process were established. Factors like age, composition of the sheep fat, breed, sex, boundaries for the extraction process, etc. are taken into consideration.

Results

Field tests in the forest areas where split in two systems. First on naturally grown young oak trees and second in artificially planted sites at the research station Agro Trial Center Gerhaus. In general it was possible to show that the application of the emulsion formulation leaded to a rejection of deer and therefore a better plant growth. At the naturally grown sites it was possible to drive deer out of the area by using the formulation as protection on the spot.

Test in vineyards were done at several locations. Main interest was whether the formulation could drive out passing deer and keep it away from the vine. Second in question was the combination with other standard spray applications in vine eg sulfur and sorts of chemical fungicides.

An austrian registrations in grapes could be achieved.

Three main types of formulations were established as a basis for products in the future.

• Type one consists of fat and water and is technically known als emulsion. Main problem with such type of formulation is that sheep fat has at least two temperature points where different fat fractions crystallize and therefore it makes the liquid product temperature sensitive, especially on long time storage. The microbial stability has proven to be acceptable so far. There are so far no known problems for the commercial use of high fat content emulsions when stored in an appropriate way.
• Type two of the formulations is a wetable powder made in a fluidized bed system. It has been shown that the powder formation goes easy from eg the emulsion type product one. But in short tests it was seen that the product does not keep its full quality as a repellent that might come from the drying or other process relevant parameters. Beside the reconstitution of a dry but wetable powder in water does not seem to go as easy as expected. Since sheep does not emulgate at low temperatures the powder particles do not disintegrate in an easy way. That makes it rather unlike to become sort of a successful formulation. For the experienced user will always have something quickly to apply and work with in the forrest area and anywhere else. Nonetheless direct use of the dry powder - if the active resists technical impact during production - does still have its interesting application niches.
• Type three of the developed formulations is a incapsulated sheep fat in a CS formulation. Longtime experiences within the company with this very sophisticated way of processing were responsibel for been successful in developing a 25% CS sample.

Production scale up were done for the emulsion formulation.

Implementation caused a slight adaption of the equipement. New methods for analysing sheep fat content and possible microbial contaminations had to be astablished at Kwizda Agro. Quality control measures for the producer were established with a HACCP.

Project management

Dr. Andreas Krenn
Kwizda Agro GmbH

Project or cooperation partner

• ATC - Agro Trial Center Gerhaus GmbH
  Ing. Thomas Bauer
• Schäferei Secklehner
  Maria Secklehner
• Gutsverwaltung Maximilian Hardegg
  Leopold Baumgartner
• Bulgarini'sche Guts- und Forstverwaltung
  Kurt Obernberger

Dr. Karl Lueger Ring 6
1010 Wien
Tel.: +43 59977 10 237
E-Mail: a.krenn@kwizda-agro.at
Internet: www.kwizda-agro.at