In 1957, Zilkha reported a new simpler method based on adding amines to crotonic acid and then catalytically hydrogenolysing the product to produce BABA.

[5][6] BABA was first found to increase the resistance of plants to disease in 1960, when it was observed that it decreased late blight of tomato.

[8] It has also been shown to be effective in the field at protecting potato and tomato plants from late blight, grape vines from Plasmopara viticola and melons from Monosporascus cannonballus.

It does not directly activate defensive genes in isolation, but in combination with an infection, BABA treated plants respond more quickly and strongly to the pathogen.

[10] In some pathosystems, enhanced callose and lignin deposition is seen around the point of infection, which act as a physical barrier preventing disease.

This variation in the hormones required for BABA to confer resistance makes it differ from other synthetic activators of plant defence, which only operate through the SAR pathway of PR proteins.