Biologicals: The Next Frontier

Tuesday, August 27, 2024

Keeping the yield needle moving onward & upward.

By Paul Hermans

One thing that is always constant in agriculture is change. That’s what I love about this industry. Agriculture is constantly evolving to meet the needs of the producer.

In this article, I will review the fascinating world of biologicals and explore where some opportunities lie.

With biologicals – or naturals, as some people call them – there is the opportunity to take yields to the next level.

It is reported that over 400 companies are acting in this space, with over 1,000 products that growers can look at for their farm operations.

Biologicals are non-synthetic crop production inputs. They can include things like beneficial insects, microorganisms, and plant extracts. Biologicals can further be categorized into specific types, including bio-stimulants, biopesticides, biofertilizers and pheromones.

Within the bio-stimulants category are products that help control plant hormones.

Peter Davies, former professor of plant physiology at Cornell University, has defined plant hormones as “a group of naturally occurring, organic substances which influence physiological processes at low concentrations.”

Key hormones include auxin, cytokinin, gibberellin, ethylene, and abscisic acid. Each play a specific role within the plant.

In simple terms, they help control shoot and root growth when ratios within the plant are ideal.

Growers need to realize that biologicals are not a silver bullet to fix every problem from a crop management standpoint. They work in conjunction with sound agronomy practices to take yields to the next level.

In past articles, I have talked about the yield pyramid. The Pioneer Yield Pyramid is designed to help farmers manage the complexity of crop management decisions by identifying and prioritizing those practices that will increase yield potential.

Starting at the bottom are the basics of agronomy that must be managed, working from left to right, before you can advance to the next level. These include things like drainage, managing soil pH and basic fertility.

With biologicals, all the “simple agronomy” practices must be implemented before you can gain the benefits of biologicals on the farm.

Corteva recently acquired Stoller. A giant in the biological market.

I recently had the chance to listen to agronomy talks about Stoller and what their vision is for stimulants.

When we look at plant hormones, hormones control a lot of activity within the plant. During stressful times, different hormones regulate distinct functions within the plant.

For example, during the critical pollination phase for corn, when ambient air temperatures are above 28 C for extended periods of time, hormones can change, which can lead to degradation in kernel set.

The two weeks before and after pollination are the most critical. Most losses occur due to drought/reduced moisture available to the plant. Studies have shown yield losses can be as much as three to five per cent – or even seven per cent – per day.

Understanding how hormones regulate certain plant functions allows us to supplement the hormones at the right rate and the right time to supercharge the plant to ensure the hormones are kept in balance.

An example of this is a product called X-Cyte. X-Cyte contains cytokinins, which are active hormones that enhance fruit formation/seed production. During hot periods, cytokinin production is reduced in the plant, which leads to higher rates of seed abortion.

In-crop application to increase cytokinin levels within the plant will help reduce seed abortion.

The wonderful thing about using bio-stimulants is that depending on what Mother Nature throws at us, we can react by applying a specific stimulant to help reduce plant stress and keep the plant functioning in top gear to make a bigger factory or ensure seed-set is not disrupted.

Back to the X-Cyte example. If the two-week forecast around pollination time is for air temperature to be above 30 C with hot and humid conditions, then we could prescribe an application to help reduce stress, keeping hormones in check for this period.

These products could be tank-mixed with other products like fungicides to reduce the number of trips over a field, keeping application costs in check.

In Ontario (and across North America), Pioneer agronomists will be evaluating biologicals to first understand where the value lies with these products, and second, to learn what the ROI is – which will allow us to reduce stress in field crops.

Stay tuned later this fall, as we will have more research data for the 2025 growing season.

The frontier in agriculture looks promising! It is up to all of us to understand these advances and where the fit is to keep the yield needle moving onward and upward. BF