MITIGATING RISING FERTILIZER COSTS WITH BIOLOGICS
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It is well know that a healthy soil, teaming with microbes can greatly enhance nutrient uptake, and increase yields significantly depending on the crop. Likewise, fertilizers input can be reduced by 10% to 20% without impacting yield when the soil is supplemented with biologics.
Bacteria such as Bacillus, Streptomyces and Pseudomonas break down organic matter to make nutrients available to plants. They also produce organic acids to break the bonds between positive and negatively charged nutrients tied to soil particles (clay and humus). Some microbes also exude Phytase, an enzyme that breaks down Phytic acid, and indigestible form of phosphate found in plants.
Certain strains of bacillus and Streptomyces also exude ionophores, cyclic peptides that anchor in the membrane of root cells and allow nutrients to come in passively, without the use of ATP. This is significant because most micronutrients cannot cross the cell membranes through diffusion or passive transport. There is usually more of those cations inside the plant than outside. So the normal transport process is through protein channels on the root membrane. But this process requires energy, whereas ionophores do the same exchange without energy. This is why applying biologics at planting is so important. It allows for faster nutrient uptake just when the plant germinates and does not have sufficient leaves for sugar production or roots for nutrient uptake. It is like providing an IV to a patient.
These rhizobacteria also produce IAA (Indole Acetic Acid), IBA (Indole Butyric Acid) and other growth hormones to equip the young plant with all the tools to survive and thrive. They also chelate iron by producing siderophores; and chelate other nutrients by producing citric acid and other carboxylic acids.
But wait, there is more…..
These bacteria also produce antibiotics and lipopeptides to control bacterial and fungi pathogens respectively. Finally they also produce systemic augmented response chemicals such as 2-3 butane diol, which induce the plant to defend itself by producing phenols, alkaloids, terpenes and other chemicals to ward off an attack.
Before discussing what potential products may work best for you, there are a few more basic concept we must talk about.
Rhizobacteria live on the surface of the root. They have a symbiotic relationship with the plant. The plant provides them with food in terms of volatiles and debris from dead root cells in return for all the benefits listed above. But there is one problem, there is never enough food for everyone seated at the table. There are thousands of strain, good and bad, competing for that food. Furthermore, as the plant grows, the composition of its volatiles change over time, thereby supporting different colonies at different times. So the way to ensure that the colony count is maintained is to provide the bacteria with a food source such as molasses on a regular basis.
Another issue is mutation. Bacteria on average mutate at a rate of 1 in 300. Considering that a healthy soil has somewhere around 2 billion bacteria per gram of soil; and although most mutation are benign, this dynamic can have an impact on the crop. That is why it is important to also reintroduce pure strain biologics to the soil every three to four weeks. Usually specific colony counts last about three weeks, before more aggressive strains outcompete them for food.
With this in mind, the following are two products that you may want to consider:
Rhizo Tonic Gold
It is a blend of Agro Gold, our premier cocktail of bacillus bacteria with Terrafed molasses by QLF and our Sea Tonic seaweed extract. It is shelf stable and provides spectacular results as you elow.
Kyte Gold
Kyte Gold is a blend of liquid shrimp meal and bacillus chitinosporous. It increases nutrient uptake and root growth, which leads to large yield increases.
These two products are currently sold as inoculants. However Rhizo Tonic Gold is undergoing EPA registration as a fungicide and biostimulants. Kyte Gold is also undergoing registration as a nematicide-fungicide. We hope to have these registrations out by mid next year.