According to a recent analysis by the agricultural organisation COAG, food production is now 291 TP3T more expensive than a year ago and 711 TP3T more than ten years ago, due to an excessive rise in the prices of agricultural inputs. The highest increase is that of fertilisers, with an increase of 621 TP3T.
Rising production costs force producers to look for ways to optimize resources. This is where profitability becomes essential: every peso invested in fertilization must be profitable, since part of it "volatilizes", another part is leached or the crop is simply unable to absorb it, among other causes.
So how could we achieve optimal nutrient absorption efficiency by
part of the plant to increase the return on investment? Let's see it below.
Increasing nutrient use efficiency (NUE)
At Symborg, we provide farmers with the key to optimizing plant nutrition in a profitable and sustainable way. The solution comes through biotechnological tools such as MycoUp, MycoUp 360, Resid MG and Resid HC, a line of biostimulants that increase the crop's capacity to absorb more nutrients at a lower energy cost for the plant, thus increasing the efficiency in the use of water and nutrients in crops in a sustainable way.
These solutions are developed from our exclusive mycorrhizal fungus Glomus iranicum var. tenuihypharum, which acts in symbiosis with crops to increase their productive potential.
How do we get the plant to take advantage of every drop of water and every gram of nutrient?
The fungus Glomus iranicum var. tenuihypharum establishes a long-lasting mutually beneficial relationship with the crop: the plant provides the fungus with sugars derived from photosynthesis and the fungus provides the plant with water and nutrients. This relationship is called “mycorrhizal symbiosis”.
In the case of our biostimulants, this relationship becomes extra efficient, as the fungus activates key metabolic processes such as photosynthesis, in order to receive more sugars from the plant and provide it with more water and nutrients in return. This effective increase in photosynthetic capacity in turn allows the crop to capture more CO 2 .
On the other hand, the fungus also encourages the growth of the crop's root system, including the number of absorbing hairs. Thus, our fungus can grow and form more connections with the plant, thus increasing the absorption of water and nutrients.
What makes Glomus iranicum var. tenuihypharum unique?
Glomus iranicum var. tenuihypharum is not just any mycorrhizal fungus. The connection with the plant is extraordinary due to its unique characteristics.
This fungus produces very small spores that are external to the root. Do you remember those absorbent hairs we talked about? Thanks to this type of sporulation, the absorbent hairs of the root do not become blocked or break, thus avoiding energy expenditure for the plant.
Furthermore, the crop tolerates salinity levels more than twice the appropriate level, being able to grow in soils of up to 6 dS/m, and also tolerates high concentrations of fertilizers.
But in relation to nutrient use efficiency (NUE), we are specifically interested in one property of our biostimulants containing Glomus iranicum var. tenuihypharum: the abundant production of extramatric mycelium, that is, the fungus grows towards the outside of the root deploying a network of hyphae capable of absorbing water and nutrients and transporting them towards the arbuscule, the place where it exchanges water and nutrients for sugars. Glomus iranicum var. tenuihypharum is capable of producing up to 4 times more extramatric mycelium than other mycorrhizal fungi.
What benefits do biostimulants provide in terms of NUE?
Below, we will review some tests that demonstrate the efficiency of Symborg's MycoUp biostimulant in increasing nutrient absorption by the plant at a lower energy cost for it.
For example, we take the paper on the Application of Glomus iranicum var. tenuihypharum in intensive agriculture, published in the Journal of Agricultural Science and Technology (2017), where an analysis of macro and micronutrients is made in crops such as Fino lemon and Iceberg lettuce. It is clear that the application of Glomus iranicum var. tenuihypharum increases the average absorption of nutrients by more than 30% and in the case of micronutrients that promote a high chlorophyll content, more than 32% on average.
Similarly, the application of our mycorrhizal fungus causes relief from the harmful effects of recovered saline water on lettuce plants. The results of analyzing macro and micronutrients in Iceberg lettuce show that, after 90 days of treatment, the average absorption of nutrients in both types of water increases by more than 50%3T.
In trials on the effects of Glomus iranicum var. tenuihypharum on citrus development in southeastern Spain, MycoUp increased the average nutrient absorption by more than 30% and, in the case of micronutrients, promoted a high chlorophyll content of more than 30% in Fino lemon.
As we have mentioned above, in the efficient use of nutrients (NUE), another of the benefits of the fungus Glomus iranicum var. tenuihypharum is the increase in the volume of the plant's roots and the surface of soil explored, as evidenced by tests carried out on the root system and the productivity of melon plants (Cucumis melo L.) cv Hispano, in the agroclimatic conditions of southeastern Spain.
Do you also want to obtain these results in your crops? Discover our biostimulants based on Glomus iranicum var. tenuihypharum here:
