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Bee Vectoring Technologies Announces a Second Year of Successful Seed Treatment Trial Results

2023-03-07 08:02 ET - News Release

  • Consistently increased crop yields and outperformed base seed treatment
  • Larger, healthier soybean plants; more biomass and higher plant vigor
  • Consistent, repeating positive results to add to successful first year trials

Mississauga, Ontario and Sacramento, California--(Newsfile Corp. - March 7, 2023) - Bee Vectoring Technologies International Inc. (CSE: BEE) (OTCQB: BEVVF) (CVE: BEE) (the "Company" or "BVT") is pleased to announce positive second year trial results demonstrating the efficacy of BVT's proprietary biological control agent Clonostachys rosea strain CR-7 (CR-7) as a seed treatment on soybeans.

Compared to the first-year trials, the second-year included measuring CR-7's effect on soybean yields. Year 2 trial data established that adding CR-7 over base seed treatment results in soybean plants producing higher yields as measured over 16 replicated plots across four locations when compared to the biological standard, and that CR-7 was equivalent to the chemical standard in terms of effectiveness. Other measures on plant health, vigor and plant biomass showed the same positive outcomes as in the first year, indicating the scalability of BVT's proprietary CR-7 in the soybean seed treatment market.

"Wherever CR-7 was applied, the results outperformed the base seed treatment 81% of the time. We observed, on average, a three-bushel yield per acre increase with CR-7 added, which is about 4% higher than the base seed treatment. Although that may not sound dramatic, that is a meaningful improvement for a treatment that was applied at the very early stages of the planting season. Most seed treatments are designed to protect the seed from pests, but to see a positive increase in the yield at the end of the season is impressive," said Dr. Mason Newark, Field Technical Manager at BVT.

Year 1 and 2 trials were conducted in partnership with well-established soybean researchers in Iowa, Illinois, and Wisconsin, with a fourth location in Nebraska added in 2022 and resulted in consistently positive results year over year across all the states that have had trials so far. The 2022 trials continued assessing the efficacy of CR-7 added over base seed treatment on plant biomass and vigor, and demonstrated its effectiveness as a treatment against disease and soybean crop yields.

Cannot view this image? Visit: https://images.newsfilecorp.com/files/3903/157453_b91e1559c47f0b05_0203.jpg
 
Above: Iowa trial site with soybean plants grown from seed with CR-7 added over the base seed treatment (left) compared to another site with plants grown with seed containing just the base seed treatment (right). Note the more robust rows of plants on the left photo.
 
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"Our corporate market strategy is to initially focus on soybeans as it's a major row crop where major multinationals are heavily invested in," said Ashish Malik, CEO of BVT. There are 320 million acres grown globally, with 86 million acres in the US, 98 million in Brazil and 40 million in Argentina.(1) 80% of American soybeans receive seed treatment before planting, and approximately 50% undergo a biological inoculant treatment.

The seed treatment market is specialized, with different and distinct channels in the major growing regions. A deep understanding of the genetics of seed varieties, and access to the distinct channels, including relationships with seed companies, are important to successfully penetrate the market. BVT intends to partner with seed treatment companies who have the expertise and channel access to accelerate our reach into this soybean acreage. BVT believes future licensing agreements hold potential for significant annual royalties from this application.

"Partners, growers and seed companies all rely on multi-year data to ensure effectiveness, BVT's repeated positive results can therefore increase their confidence even more," continued Mr. Malik. "For partners, the strong trial data from years 1 and 2 demonstrates the value and potential of adding CR-7 to their portfolios and shows that CR-7 can create a differentiated product offering to the marketplace."

Second year trial results also confirmed that adding CR-7 over base seed treatment led to plants being healthier in the vegetative stage - when leaves, stems and roots are growing to support the flowering and reproductive stages.

Cannot view this image? Visit: https://images.newsfilecorp.com/files/3903/157453_b91e1559c47f0b05_004.jpg
 
Above: Soybean plants with base seed treatment (left) compared to plants grown with CR-7 added to the base seed treatment (center and right).
 
To view an enhanced version of this graphic, please visit:
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Year 2 data also reconfirmed CR-7's effectiveness against Sudden Death Syndrome (SDS), a significant problem caused by Fusarium virguliforme, a soil-borne pathogen that attacks soybean roots and lower stems, affecting flowers and young pods and resulting in significant yield loss.

"CR-7 was statistically equivalent to both biological and chemical standard treatments for SDS," said Dr. Newark. "This disease data, coupled with CR-7's ability to grow healthier plants and improve yield, enables us to provide growers with a product that addresses many needs with zero negative effect on crop safety - and help them implement more sustainable agricultural practices."

(1) Source: USDA, World Agricultural Production, 2022

About Bee Vectoring Technologies International Inc.

BVT, an agriculture technology company, is a market disruptor with a significant global market opportunity in the $240 billion crop protection and fertilizer market. BVT has pioneered a natural precision agriculture system that replaces chemical pesticides and wasteful plant protection product spray applications by delivering biological pesticide alternatives to crops using commercially grown bees. BVT's award-winning technology, precision vectoring, is completely harmless to bees and allows minute amounts of naturally-derived pesticides (called biologicals) to be delivered directly to blooms, providing improved crop protection and yield results than traditional chemical pesticides - and improving the health of the soil, the microbiome and the environment. Currently, BVT has over 65 granted patents, over 35 patents pending in all major agricultural countries worldwide and has US EPA registration of its Vectorite™ with CR-7 (EPA Registration No. 90641-2) for sale as a registered biological fungicide for use on the labeled crops.

Additional information can be viewed at the Company's website www.beevt.com. To receive regular news updates from the Company, subscribe at www.beevt.com/newsletter.

BVT Company Contact:
Ashish Malik, President & CEO, BVT
info@beevt.com

BVT Investor Contacts:
Babak Pedram (Canada & International)
Virtus Advisory Group
Tel: 416-995-8651
bpedram@virtusadvisory.com

William Maze (United States)
RB Milestone Group LLC (RBMG)
bee@rbmilestone.com

The CSE has neither approved nor disapproved the contents of this press release. The CSE does not accept responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release. Certain statements contained in this press release constitute "forward-looking information" as such term is defined in applicable Canadian securities legislation. The words "may", "would", "could", "should", "potential", "will", "seek", "intend", "plan", "anticipate", "believe", "estimate", "expect" and similar expressions as they relate to the Company, "annual revenue potential", are intended to identify forward-looking information. All statements other than statements of historical fact may be forward-looking information. Such statements reflect the Company's current views and intentions with respect to future events, and current information available to the Company, and are subject to certain risks, uncertainties and assumptions, including: planted acres, selling price of competitive chemical pesticides and the US to Canadian dollar exchange rate. Material factors or assumptions were applied in providing forward-looking information. Many factors could cause the actual results, performance or achievements that may be expressed or implied by such forward-looking information to vary from those described herein should one or more of these risks or uncertainties materialize. These factors include changes in law, competition, litigation, the ability to implement business strategies and pursue business opportunities, state of the capital markets, the availability of funds and resources to pursue operations, new technologies, the ability to protect intellectual property rights, the ability to obtain patent protection for products, third-party intellectual property infringement claims, regulatory changes affecting products, failing research and development activities, the ability to reach and sustain profitability, dependence on business and technical experts, the ability to effectively manage business operations and growth, issuance of debt, dilution of existing securities, volatility of publicly traded securities, potential conflicts of interest, unlikelihood of dividend payments, the potential costs stemming from defending third-party intellectual property infringement claims, the ability to secure relationships with manufacturers and purchasers, as well as general economic, market and business conditions, as well as those risk factors discussed or referred to in the Company's Filing Statement dated August 14,2020, filed with the CSE and securities regulatory authorities in certain provinces of Canada and available at www.sedar.com. Should any factor affect the Company in an unexpected manner, or should assumptions underlying the forward-looking information prove incorrect, the actual results or events may differ materially from the results or events predicted. Any such forward-looking information is expressly qualified in its entirety by this cautionary statement. Moreover, the Company does not assume responsibility for the accuracy or completeness of such forward-looking information. The forward-looking information included in this press release is made as of the date of this press release and the Company undertakes no obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking information, other than as required by applicable law. All figures are in Canadian dollars.

To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/157453

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