SaferShield Witches' Broom Trial Results - Sep-25 to Dec-24

From August 2023 to December 2024, two performance trials were conducted in Trinidad and Tobago to evaluate SaferShield, a cost-effective, two-phase treatment designed to combat major cocoa fungal diseases: Witches' Broom, Black Pod, Frosty Pod, and Vascular Streak Dieback. The trials took place on a 6-acre plot in Rancho Quemado and a 5-acre plot in Erin that were both infected with Witches' Broom and nearby plots where the disease was uncontrolled.

The SaferShield ARREST Phase involved applying an arrest cocktail with Dimethomorph and Mancozeb to the cocoa trees, along with a control cocktail containing Trichoderma viride to the field floor. Twenty days later, the CONTROL phase re-applied the control cocktail to the trees. 

By March 2024 (after 7 months), infections in Rancho Quemado dropped from over 100 trees to fewer than 10, with no new infections observed by December after a full re-application of SaferShield was made in March 2024. In Erin, the single, August 2023 treatment reduced infections from around 10 trees to zero by March 2024, with no new infections by December 2024 (after 16 months). 

The trial gives poistive indication that SaferShield's controlled Witches' Broom by establishing Trichoderma viride colonies in the trees above the rhizosphere, and further monitoring and larger-scale trials are planned, including the replacement of Mancozeb and Dimethomorph with naturally occurring compounds.

The published summary of trial is given below: