Grace Breeding Announces Brazil Field Test Results of its ProMagen™ (WDS Bio-Activator) in Soybean Plants Demonstrating Boosted Yields

– Using ProMagen™ in combination with standard chemicals or other biological solutions demonstrated more efficient disease control and boosted yields

– Results showed Grace Breeding’s environmentally friendly ProMagen™ (WDS bio-activator) enhance plant resilience and disease tolerance

– Grace Breeding’s ProMagen™ treatment provided gains of up to six bags of soybeans per hectare when compared to the standard pesticide farmer treatment

REHOVOT, Israel, June 20, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Grace Breeding Ltd. (the “Company” or “Grace Breeding”) (TASE: GRAC), a forward-thinking AgClimateTech company developing sustainable biological-based products to improve crop yield and vigor, today announced the results from trials of its ProMagen™ (formerly known as “WDS”), in soybean plants, conducted in the field under a research and development collaboration with its partners at the State University of Londrina (UEL), based in Paraná State, Brazil. Results showed that using Grace Breeding’s ProMagen™ in soybean plants there was both higher resilience and tolerance as well as higher yield produced.

Grace Breeding’s ProMagen is a foliar formulation product based on botanical extracts, unlike synthetic fungicides or pesticides that can contaminate groundwater and food and have a high residual effect, damaging the health of farmers and consumers. These results support the use of Grace Breeding’s ProMagen as a promising environmentally friendly solution to improve plant response to disease attack and prevent high disease severity.

“We have gained additional momentum in the important agricultural region of Brazil, with the support of our collaborators at the State University of Londrina and Gaia AgroSolutions, demonstrating encouraging results related to our second sustainable product candidate, our ProMagen,” stated Assaf Dotan, Chief Executive Officer of Grace Breeding. “Traditionally, only pesticides or fungicides have been used to do this which are harmful to both the environment as well as farmers and consumers. In contrast, Grace Breeding’s ProMagen, which is not a synthetic compound, helps to increase plant resilience while also significantly increasing crop yield.”  

Mr. Dotan continued, “These results of our ProMagen further validate our WDS technology in terms of its ability to increase the efficiency of chemical and biological active ingredients that are crucial for disease control. Importantly, our testing was done in UEL experimental station with soybean plants, which is key since Brazil is ranked a top exporter of soybeans. We look forward to advancing this program to make it available to farmers there.”

Results From the Brazil Field test in Soybean

In the field tests conducted in soybean plants, Grace Breeding’s ProMagen showed plant resilience enhancement and disease tolerance when compared to the (four), agricultural standard pesticide application methods used by farmers: Propiconazole + Difenoconazole (first application), Benzovindiflupyr + Prothioconazole + Chlorothalonil (second application), Difenoconazole + Cyproconazole + Chlorothalonil (third application) and Difenoconazole + Cyproconazole (fourth application). Specifically, Grace Breeding’s ProMagen demonstrated greater disease control efficiency for most metrics evaluated. In addition, when combined with a pesticide such as the ones studied in this field trial, Grace Breeding’s ProMagen was found to have the potential to increase the efficiency of chemical and biological active ingredients in disease control. In summary, Grace Breeding’s ProMagen also provided gains of up to six bags of soybeans per hectare, when compared to the commercial standard, which would yield approximately, today, US $130 more in crops per hectare. 

In Brazil and other areas around the world, synthetic molecules, or pesticides, are often used with soybean crop to control different plant diseases. However, environmental problems are caused due to the contamination of ground water and food, with a high residual effect. This damages the health of both farmers and consumers, among other negative effects. As such, the development of more sustainable products is encouraged, such as botanical extracts that have provided interesting results as bio-activators for resilience enhancement, improving the plant response to disease attack and preventing high disease severity. In Brazil, the Londrina State University-UEL and Gaia AgroSolutions, in partnership with Grace Breeding from Israel, are testing and validating Grace Breeding’s technologies that fit these purposes.

“The soybean became a global staple due to it being a healthy and affordable source of protein,” says Professor Juliano Tadeu Vilela de Resende Ph.D. of the Agronomy Department at Universidade Estadual de Londrina. “Brazil, as the leading exporter of soybeans, can significantly benefit from Grace Breeding’s ProMagen product candidate because, as we see from the results of this study, it promotes healthy plant functioning and boosts crop yield in an eco-friendly manner.”

About the Collaboration Between Grace Breeding and UEL

In November 2022, Grace Breeding announced a strategic research and development collaboration with the prestigious State University of Londrina (UEL), based in Paraná State, Brazil. UEL is a top 10 University in Brazil. The University is investigating Grace Breeding’s NFT related to improving soil nutrient uptake, as well as increasing carbon sequestration and nitrogen fertilization efficiency. These attributes would allow farmers to significantly reduce their dependence on synthetic fertilizer. The University is also collaborating with Grace Breeding on its product candidate, ProMagen™, researching its effect on plant resilience and disease tolerance. In addition to being a sustainable solution technology to reverse the effects of climate change on plants, it also has the potential to provide greater crop yields.

About Grace Breeding

Grace Breeding is an AgClimateTech company focused on developing environmentally sustainable products that are bio-based and provide efficient and natural solutions for farmers and distributors. Grace Breeding aims to disrupt crop agriculture – by providing solutions for crop bio-fertilization and climate stress relief and offering innovative products and solutions that reduce the environmental damage caused by synthetic fertilizers. Grace Breeding has an R&D center in Israel and in parallel the company is developing its products with several leading research and development centers around the world. For more information, visit https://www.gracebreeding.com.

Forward-Looking Statements

This press release contains forward-looking statements concerning our business operations and future plans.  All statements other than statements of historical fact are statements that could be deemed forward-looking statements. All forward-looking statements in this press release are made based on management’s current expectations which involve risks, uncertainties and other factors that could cause results to differ materially from those expressed in forward-looking statements. These statements involve a number of risks and uncertainties including, but not limited to, he preliminary nature of the Company’s business operations, the dependency on the success of future filed trials, the regulatory environment, the Company’s financial position and other risk factors.  For a more detailed discussion of these and other risks that may cause actual results to differ from the forward-looking statements in this press release, please refer to our most recent annual report. The Company does not undertake any obligation to update forward-looking statements made herein.

Contacts

Grace Breeding Ltd.

Investors
Jeremy Feffer
LifeSci Advisors LLC
jfeffer@lifesciadvisors.com

Media
Inbar Kneller
ReBlonde Public Relations
inbar@reblonde.com