Eureka! operates an extensive biological testing facility that enables us to determine the crop safety and bioefficacy of herbicides, some fungicides, plant growth regulators (PGRs), some insecticides and the effect of fertilisers and other organic or biostimulants on plant growth.
Our customers use this facility to generate data to support product registration, aid formulation selection, prepare promotional material, help make decisions about field trials.
Much of our greenhouse work ends up in product registration packages. We have a greenhouse and four controlled environment growth chambers that allow us to mimic a wide range of growth conditions (e.g. cold wet conditions may reduce herbicide uptake, waterlogging may increase the extent of crop damage and high temperatures may exaggerate volatility).
We have two laboratory tracksprayers that allow the safe application of product to plants or soils. We have an accurate rainfall simulator that enables us to collect data and study the effect of rainfall and irrigation on products. We have an extensive library of bioassay techniques on crops, weeds and diseases that have been devised by us and improved with repeated use over the years.
We have a comprehensive leaching column system that allows the study of the movement of chemicals through a soil. This data is used to devise formulations which have less leaching risk or, in other cases, to improve the ability of non-mobile chemicals and fertilisers to penetrate the soil to the zone where they need to be active.