Our Solution

Exploiting sterility to win the battle against resistant weeds

WeedOUT brings a totally new strategy into the world of weed control by developing a novel biological herbicide to fight off resistant weeds.

WeedOUT’s unique weed pollen ‎possesses 2 major properties:

It competes successfully with naturally occurring weed pollen and fertilizes the ovule
It leads to the formation of aborted seeds

Susceptible weeds are destroyed by chemical herbicides. However, escaper resistant weeds that were not affected by the herbicides mature and reproduce. Consequently, their proportion in the total weed population increases rapidly and leads to an evolutionary drift. Our groundbreaking solution is designed to outcompete naturally occurring pollen and accordingly get evolution back on track.

WeedOUT’s novel technology is based on the development of a unique proprietary weed pollen, which is applied during weed flowering period via artificial pollination to prevent the generation of viable resistant weed seeds.

New mechanism of action for weed control that is orthogonal to all currently available solutions
Green, non-toxic, biologically based solution to outcompete naturally occurring pollen and to inhibit soil seed bank replenishment
Mimicks the weed’s natural reproduction mechanism, therefore provides a long-lasting solution with very low chances of resistant development
Faster and less expensive regulatory path
Designed to target only the weed and not the crop
Cost effective solution
Can be easily adapted and improve existing Integrated Weed Management programs
By blocking resistance spreading can prolong the use of current herbicide products and preserve their market

Our first product is aimed against Palmer Amaranth, ranked as the most troublesome weed in the U.S, according to surveys published in 2016, 2017 and 2019 (Weed Science Society of America).

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In Palmer Amaranth, control seeds obtained following artificial pollination with regular pollen had typical weight and morphology, while seeds obtained following artificial pollination with WeedOUT’s pollen had a lighter color and their average weight per seed was significantly lower than that of control seeds (fold change = 3.3, p-value = 0.00015).

In addition, seeds obtained following artificial pollination with WeedOUT’s pollen completely lost their ability to germinate. While the average germination rate in the control was 72%, none of the seeds obtained following artificial pollination with WeedOUT’s pollen germinated (p-value = 0.00002). These results demonstrate the ability of WeedOUT’s pollen to block the generation of viable resistant weed seeds and accordingly to inhibit resistant weed spreading.

WeedOUT’s technology was successfully tested in various studies in Palmer Amaranth, and its high efficacy was demonstrated in field trials in Israel and in the US.

The technology was also successfully tested in Proof of Concept studies with Waterhemp (Amaranthus tuberculatus) that is considered one of the most troublesome weeds in the US.

We believe that our technology is highly applicable to many of the world's most problematic resistant weeds.