After cellulose, which is found in woody crops, chitin is the most common biopolymer on Earth. It is found in the skeletons of crustaceans and shellfish, as well as in the cell walls of fungi, the egg cell walls of nematodes, the skeletons of insects, and more. Chitin is completely biodegradable into carbon dioxide, water, and nitrogen compounds, making it a 100% natural product.
Studies dating back to the 1960s have shown that the product has a positive effect on the disease resistance of crops. The reason chitin has not been widely used in agriculture and horticulture is that up to 10 tons per hectare of ground shrimp shells were required to achieve visible effects—making it far too expensive in practice.
Later, it was discovered that chitin can be converted into chitosan through a chemical or enzymatic process. Chitosan acts much faster than raw chitin and is much easier to apply in practice due to its improved solubility. Whereas 10 tons of chitin per hectare were needed to see results, just 10 liters of Hamerol can be used to perform four foliar applications per hectare.
A foliar application of Hamerol works like a kind of corona vaccination. In the plant leaf, there are receptors that can recognize various substances. One of these substances is chitin, as it is present in the cell walls of pathogenic fungi and in the skeletons of insects. The plant responds by producing enzymes and proteins to protect itself. If the crop is later actually attacked by fungi, the plant is immediately capable of defending itself. This is the elicitor (i.e., plant-strengthening) function of Hamerol.
Adding chitosan to the soil alters the microbial community in favor of fungi and bacteria that promote plant growth. This is due to mycorrhiza-forming fungi and bacteria that release nutrients in the soil, making them available to the plant roots. These fungi and bacteria form a protective layer around the plant roots and help shield them from pathogenic attacks.
A resilient plant—both above and below ground—combined with improved absorption of moisture and nutrients and an increase in chlorophyll content in the leaf, often leads to increased crop yield.
