Did you know that our organic frass biofertiliser, Diptia®, contains an impressive 3,500 ppm of chitin? But what exactly is chitin, and how do we measure it in our product? 🤔
As black soldier fly larvae grow, they shed their exoskeletons (exuviae) 🐛, leaving behind traces of a compound called chitin. Plants have special receptors on their cells that can detect chitin, and when they do, they significantly boost their immune defenses against pathogens and pests 🌿🛡️. This is one of the reasons why trials have shown that Diptia® can greatly improve plant resistance to diseases like Fusarium ! 🌱🔬
While many products claim to contain chitin (or its processed form, chitosan), accurately measuring the amount can be quite challenging. Our R&D team used a clever method to calculate the chitin content in our product:
Black soldier fly exuviae have a unique property - they fluoresce under UV light! 😲🔵 By carefully sorting the frass using UV light and testing the samples in a specialized lab, we established the baseline chitin levels. We then enhance this further by adding BSF chitin from another stage in our production process.💪
The result? We can confidently provide our customers with the precise amount of active ingredients in our product! 🔬📊✅
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