Israeli startup Platypus Materials has developed PlatyForm, a controlled-release gel designed to improve the performance and durability of products based on pheromones, attractants, repellents and other natural volatile compounds.

The innovation received the Product Assisting Uptake of Biocontrol award at the 2025 Bernard Blum Awards. For Platypus, the award brought recognition. “It provided strong validation from the biocontrol industry and helped build credibility with manufacturers, researchers and potential partners,” Platypus co-founder Marina Arshavsky Rosental explains. She believes smart controlled-release technology plays a major role in helping agriculture and horticulture meet their sustainability goals.

Rather than developing finished plant protection products itself, PlatyForm is a semi-finished release technology that manufacturers can incorporate into dispensers, traps, sachets and other product formats.

The principle addresses a fundamental challenge with many bioactive compounds: they evaporate quickly. A highly effective active ingredient can therefore lose its effectiveness if it cannot be released at an appropriate rate and maintained in the field for a sufficiently long period.

The biodegradable controlled-release gel is designed to address that problem.

Inspired by nature

The company’s unusual name reflects an unusual combination of properties. The platypus is one of nature’s most distinctive animals, combining characteristics rarely found together. That idea inspired the company’s founders.

“We also combine several properties that are not commonly found in one material,” Arshavsky Rosental says. These include controlled release, biodegradability, compatibility with natural volatile compounds, formulation flexibility and scalable manufacturing.

The gel itself is not an attractant and, as such, does not include food odour. Instead, it functions as a delivery platform for the active ingredient selected by the manufacturer. This distinction matters. After all, the finished product’s biological activity depends on the specific pheromone, kairomone, attractant, repellent, essential oil, or other volatile compound incorporated into the formulation. The technology is therefore compatible with a broad range of ingredients.

Controlled release

The gel temporarily retains the bioactive compounds and releases them gradually.

The release profile can be adjusted through several parameters, including the gel formulation, the amount of active ingredient loaded into it, and the configuration of the final product.

“The biggest challenge is that every application is different,” notes Arshavsky Rosental. “What works for one bioactive compound may not work for another.”

The objective is therefore not simply to make it last longer, but to develop a formulation that provides the appropriate release profile for a particular pest, crop, climate and application method.

Environmental conditions add another layer of complexity. “Temperature, humidity and UV exposure can all influence the release and stability of volatile compounds. Consequently, formulations have to be designed and tested for the conditions they are expected to encounter in the field,” explains Arshavsky Rosental.

According to her, the technology is designed to extend effective product lifetimes from weeks to months compared with conventional formulations. However, the actual performance depends on the active ingredient, target pest and environmental conditions.

From false codling moth to palm weevil and box tree moth

The system is not crop-specific. Potential applications include greenhouse ornamentals, nurseries and outdoor ornamental production, as well as other crops and production systems where pheromones or volatile compounds are used for monitoring, mass trapping, attract-and-kill or mating disruption.

Pests such as false codling moth, red palm weevil and box tree moth illustrate the potential relevance of longer-lasting semiochemical release systems. These pests are already targets of semiochemical-based approaches, but the commercial value of any new delivery system ultimately depends on the performance of the complete product developed by the manufacturer.

For growers, the benefits of a longer-lasting dispenser are relatively straightforward: fewer replacements, less labour and a more consistent release of the active ingredient throughout the growing cycle.

Platypus does not sell its technology directly to growers. Its customers are biocontrol manufacturers, which incorporate the gel technology into commercial delivery systems.

Supporting IPM

The potential benefits extend beyond convenience. Longer-lasting pheromone and semiochemical products can support Integrated Pest Management by making biological tools easier and more economical to deploy.

Pheromone-based pest management can allow growers to act proactively, monitoring or suppressing pest populations before significant crop damage occurs. Depending on the crop and pest, it can form part of a broader strategy that reduces reliance on conventional insecticides.

Regulation and market development

Demand for biological plant protection is growing as regulations governing conventional pesticides tighten, and growers seek alternatives.

Europe is currently leading adoption of pheromone-based crop protection, according to Platypus, with North America also expanding rapidly and interest increasing in Latin America and Asia-Pacific.

Regulation nevertheless remains an important challenge, stresses Arshavsky Rosental. “Semiochemical and biological products may benefit from regulatory advantages compared with some conventional pesticides, but they still require appropriate efficacy and safety data, with requirements differing between markets.”

According to Platypus, because its formulation is typically incorporated into a dispenser, trap or another delivery system rather than applied directly to the plant, the technology may simplify certain aspects of product development and registration, depending on the application and regulatory framework. The precise pathway, however, remains dependent on the active ingredient, final product and target market.

What’s next?

Looking ahead, Platypus expects pheromones to become part of a broader shift towards natural volatile compounds as formulation technology improves their durability and ease of use.

Digital agriculture and artificial intelligence may further accelerate this development. According to Platypus, digital tools can help determine when and where biological products should be deployed, while formulation technology determines how long and how effectively they perform.

The company also believes that poor performance of a pheromone-based product does not necessarily mean the pheromone itself does not work. In many cases, the challenge is delivery.

Volatile compounds can be highly effective, but their rapid evaporation makes it difficult to maintain an effective concentration over time. Controlled-release technology can therefore bridge the gap between biological efficacy and practical field application.

For Platypus, that is ultimately the opportunity behind the Bernard Blum Awards: helping turn biologically active ingredients into products that growers can use reliably, economically and as part of everyday Integrated Pest Management.

The company sees formulation technology as one piece of a much larger puzzle. Arshavsky Rosental concludes: “But as the crop protection industry moves towards a more diverse toolbox of biological solutions, making those tools last longer and work more consistently could prove increasingly important.”