Kristell Santander directs NEVAL, The company received the Bioval award for best BIO initiative in agri-food at the 2020 edition of the Night of BIO. This agricultural R&D laboratory specializes in nematode trials and, as she herself points out, "biotechnology can be the key tool to be able to coexist with these pathogens without them affecting crops.".

• What value do the trials carried out by NEVAL bring to the agricultural sector?

NEVAL conducts private research studies for companies that work with plant nutrition and protection products.

Depending on the information the company has about its product, our team of professionals assesses the strategies to follow to obtain the maximum amount of information.

If prior information is available, NEVAL is an officially recognized company for conducting tests for registration purposes, so the studies would be carried out under all necessary regulations.

• What is NEVAL's method that differentiates it from other firms engaged in this activity?

NEVAL was created to offer a research service linked to registration, improving communication during the study, as well as specializing in nematodes and having its own experimental fields for more complicated trials.

Working in a scientific community provides a shorter reaction time to any type of need.

NEVAL is certified as a company for the diagnosis of plant-pathogenic and quarantine nematodes, which means that, in addition to working daily on these existing problems and having its own collection, it knows thresholds, application times, and strategies to improve effectiveness.

We are also differentiated by our knowledge of the timing of the pest or disease in the case of products that control biotic factors.

In the case of biostimulants, from the beginning we realized that a microorganism cannot be used in soil saturated with fertilizers. The main idea behind registering these products is to reduce excessive fertilization and provide an alternative to increase the harvest. Therefore, we work in areas where there are no interferences to observe the expression of these microorganisms.

• What led them to become the first private collection of plant-parasitic nematodes in Spain?

In Spain there may be other laboratories that quantify or identify nematodes, the difference is that NEVAL, in addition to being a laboratory that processes different types of samples daily, knows the damage and little by little the different economic thresholds.

We decided to save the most important nematodes so that we could work in vitro, in pots, or elsewhere.

This allows us to test products in a more precise and specific way, and we can advise our customers better.

Furthermore, advising various technicians and/or farmers on problems on farms, along with being one of the companies that tests the most nematicides, allows us to better understand the behavior of different nematodes, their interactions with other pathogens in the field, among other things.

Always constantly learning, of course, and with the confidentiality that all the studies we conduct deserve.

• How would you rate the level of scientific rigor in your analyses for quantifying nematode populations?

We work under EPPO regulations, and we are certified by Plant Health.

The samples we analyze are done twice and counter-analyses are carried out in case of doubts, but it is important to know what we are looking for and to do a good search or extraction of the soil.

Given that a soil sample is unique, and that the population is not the same in a drip irrigation zone as 40 cm beyond it, the extractions are carried out in full.

• What did it mean from a business perspective?

An increase in knowledge of an area implies an increase in demand for services; we have clients of all types, both national and international.

• Are there many laboratories nationwide dedicated to nematodes like yours?

Unlike NEVAL, no. There are some analytical laboratories that quantify or identify, but ultimately they don't have answers and can't advise like we do because they don't know the product's efficacy firsthand, they don't conduct their own research, and they haven't been on the ground dealing with problems of heterogeneity, sampling to create homogeneous tests, etc.

This is experience, and it's not something you learn in a laboratory alone.

• How do nematode trials influence the agricultural sector?

From our point of view there is a lot of activity in research with nematicides and nematostatics.

• Can biotechnology be the key tool to coexist with these pathogens and prevent them from affecting crops?

As this question rightly points out, we have to learn to live with these pathogens. Whether biotechnology can be the key tool is something a great deal of effort is being put into, and we have high hopes for it.

• As a firsthand witness to plant health, how has this field evolved in recent years?

There seems to be a greater awareness of the problem among technicians, and there are commitments to disinfecting tools, as well as rotating crops and not creating resistance, although there is still much to be done.

From the plant health perspective, the new materials come with much greater safety than a few years ago.

• What do you think the future trend is?

A combined and rational strategy.

• What challenges do agricultural companies, technicians, and product development firms face in this regard?

To an obligation to know the interactions between various chemicals and microorganisms against the pathogen in the short and long term.