#Innovation Archives - FertiGlobal

News from the markets

Nematodes get the (bio) boot in Brazil

Meloidogyne incognita and Pratylenchus brachyurus won’t be names that roll off the tongue for most of us. At least, not in their Latin form.

But switch into common language and it’s a fair bet that the root-knot nematode and root-lesion nematode will prompt some familiarity. They have the dubious distinction of being the two most damaging nematodes – tiny worms – anywhere in the world.

M. incognita is far and away the most significant, capable of adapting to (i.e. damaging) more than 3,000 different plant species. P. brachyurus is also widely spread amongst different crops, from maize to citrus to coffee, not forgetting soybeans, sugar cane, cotton and yam.

They’re a problem, causing billions of dollars of losses and costs for farmers around the world. And there’s no simple treatment: the nematodes’ ability to colonise so many crops presents difficulty in adopting universal management strategies to deal with them, whether chemical controls such as sprays, fumigation, or seed treatments, or cultural controls in the form of tillage, crop rotation or cover crops.

So is there a third way worthy of investigation? Never one to shirk a challenge, FertiGlobal Brasil started a search for innovative solutions that might help growers reduce the nematodes’ effects on crop yields and quality. Brazil – a true powerhouse in global agriculture – grows in some quantities the crops in which these pests cause so much damage:

One in three cups of the world’s coffee comes from Brazil
Seven out of every ten glasses of orange juice originate in Brazil
Brazil’s the biggest exporter of sugar cane and soybeans

Biological trials

Why use chemicals if (a) they’re not totally effective and (b) if you don’t have to? That’s the Fertiglobal approach to crop production; it’s the approach enthusiastically taken by the Brazilian team in their research.

What you’re about to read is the first we’ve talked in any detail about our new bionematicide. We’re very excited about it and not just because of the results we’ve seen in the very first trials conducted last year.

It’s also that Brazil just happens to be one of the best countries, the best markets, in which to bring new bio-based products to market. Its structured but productive regulatory framework allows farmers to benefit from biological products in the field, thanks to a quick and smooth process that sees the implementation of new policy and swift registrations of new products. There really is no better place to roll out innovations like this, given the volume of crops, the two-crop growing season, and farmers’ willing adoption of new products and techniques.

Catchy names

It’s still a bit too early to give too much away about our exciting new product, so for now let’s just refer to it by prototype 1 and prototype 2, the result of long studies in the lab to identify biological control agents that are capable of delivering an agronomically valuable result against root nematodes.

In the field trials, we evaluated the bionematicide against the two nematodes, using a common bean crop with natural mixed infestation.
Applications of the nematicide were made in-furrow or as seed treatment
An existing bionematicide (containing Bacillus subtilis and Bacillus licheniformis) was used as a microbiological standard
Nematode populations were assessed at 25 and 50 days after emergence (DAE)
Yield was measured at harvest (14% moisture)

Results

Our team’s comments

‘What a result!’ was the overwhelming reaction.

For the first field trial to show such promising results was a terrific vindication of the team’s hard work and diligence in developing the product. Add to that their deep and detailed understanding of the active’s behaviour, guiding its deployment in trials and contributing to the success seen in the charts above.

While they speak for themselves, it’s helpful to pick up on a few points:

Clearly the in-furrow application at the 0.6l/ha rate delivered the best overall biological performance, as well as the highest grain yield.
Seed treatment performed well against M. incognita in roots but was not robust for P. brachyurus management when used alone.
Commercially, what’s of most interest is the combined reduction of root infection, egg density and reproduction. It’s this combination – effectiveness in the current crop, and a reduced incidence in the next crop – that present the best agronomic return.

Next steps?

Well, results like these are exciting. Not just for the team in Brazil, but for everyone who supports the FertiGlobal ideal: being active in crop protection without needing to be active in ‘crop protection chemicals’.

It’s been one thing to demonstrate how a healthy crop – achieved through appropriate nutrition – can be a crop that’s capable of defending itself against pests and disease threats. But it’s quite another to move beyond that, and to show that in the cases where healthiness just isn’t enough – such as with nematode attack – we can still deliver the biological solution that works.

Keep watching this space. There are still a few more hoops to jump through before we can tell you that prototype 1 and prototype 2 are ready for Brazilian farmers, but it won’t be far off.

Of course, they’ll come with a better name too.

Focus on pulses

Feeling the pulse in Argentina

This time our blog takes us to Argentina.

What crops would you associate with Argentina? Maize? Soybeans? Wheat?

Well, you’d be right about those. Together with sunflowers, these four crops account for more than 90% of the country’s total crop area. So it’s a reflection of the size of Argentina’s cropland – 35 million hectares, to be precise – that from that remaining 10 per cent, Argentina can also stake a claim to being one of the world’s leading producers and exporters of pulses.

In fact, Argentina enjoys the number five spot in the pulse production global rankings. With Argentinians themselves apparently indifferent about the pulse – annual domestic consumption is just 800g per capita – the country’s pulse growers focus their efforts on beans, peas and chickpeas for export to the Middle East, Latin America and the Mediterranean.

And while there’s evident diversity in Argentina’s pulse cropping, it’s the green pea that stands out as the obvious ‘hero’. Farmers have taken advantage of the country’s ideal growing conditions for peas: fertile soils, a favourable climate and (over the last season, at least) optimum rainfall to ensure a healthy, heavy crop. Added to that, its southern hemisphere location provides an ideal opportunity for counter-seasonal production.

In fact, according to an early-January prediction from the Global Pulse Confederation, Argentina is on track to deliver its largest-ever green pea crop this season, estimated at some 264,000 tonnes. That’s 108% above the five-year average and a massive 48% year-on-year increase.

It’s not just about meeting market demand, however. The green pea is a winter-spring crop for Argentinian farmers, easy-to-grow and profitable, that allows them to take a later crop of soybeans from the same field.

Unsurprisingly, Argentina’s pea growers also recognise the vital role that the green pea – as a legume – plays in sustainable agriculture. It’s these same attributes – improving soil biodiversity and health, easing crop rotations, improving chemical fertiliser use efficiency – that were recognised and highlighted by the UN’s World Pulse Day initiative, alongside its equally important role in global nutrition, food security, dietary diversity and efficiency.

FertiGlobal trials

It doesn’t take much to connect the dots. FertiGlobal’s own interests in sustainable agriculture, nutrient use efficiency, soil health and biodiversity clearly align well with the objectives of World Pulse Day, while our presence in Argentina is unsurprisingly focused on helping farmers ‘get more from less’ when it comes to their most important and most profitable crops.

Readers familiar with our blogs will recall how FertiGlobal’s head of technical development for the LATAM region, Josefina Mackern, enjoys nothing more than having ‘boots on the ground’ when it comes to technical development and application.

Enter our green pea trials in Argentina, conducted during the 2024 season. Josefina worked with FertiGlobal partner Synergy Agro to investigate how two of our technology platforms – Folistim and ACES – could improve yield and productivity in the green pea crop.

ACES

Our ACES Technology – Advanced Crop Eco Shield – combines natural nutrients that our R&D programme has proven to have beneficial effects on vital plant defence systems.

Galle, the product chosen for this trial, is a seed treatment designed to be applied in conjunction with, and to support, the inoculants commonly used in legume cultivation. Seed treatment allows these bioactive compounds to initiate these defence systems at an early stage in crop development, helping to ‘future proof’ each plant against subsequent pathogenic attack.

Five treatments (as table 1) and five replicates were employed, totalling 30 plots at the trial site in Heavy, Buenos Aires province.

Table 1

Observations were made of vegetative growth (plant survival and establishment, fresh shoot and root weight) and at harvest (hectolitre weight, thousand-kernel weight, and grain yield).

As Chart 1 reveals, the application to green peas of biostimulants as seed treatments is important for crop establishment and growth: Galle resulted in approximately 7% higher initial growth.

Chart 1: Plant establishment

Several differences were observed in yield, consistent with the early growth observations. While treatment with the competitor 2 (Trichoderma) achieved the highest yield, Galle at 200ml per 100kg of pea seed was only marginally behind – representing a suitable biostimulant option when used in conjunction with inoculants.

Chart 2: Yield

Folistim

As with ACES, Folistim Technologies are formulated around natural compounds, in this case complexed with essential plant nutrients. The range is designed to biostimulate crops into optimising their use of nutrient elements so that they first prioritise vegetative growth and then support fruit quality and conservation.

In a second trial, the focus was on Rumis, a Folistim product that’s specifically formulated to favour development of roots and shoots. Its auxin-like effects promote earlier vegetative growth, especially in seedlings.

Also conducted in Heavy, this trial featured seven treatments made at two timings – first at flowering, then a second at pod formation.

Table 2

Assessments were made of vegetative growth (fresh shoot weight) and at harvest (pod length and grain yield). As Table 3 reveals, Rumis-treated plants displayed the heaviest fresh shoot weights.

Table 3: Fresh shoot weight

*Evaluation 20 days after the first application

When it came to yield, no major differences were observed in pod length but there was an apparent trend towards increased pod length when biostimulants were applied during pod formation.

As for yield (Chart 3), Rumis achieved the highest yield when it was applied at pod development (R4).

Chart 3: Yield

Although only an exploratory study, this trial nevertheless demonstrated the value of a biostimulant such as Rumis. Applied foliarly at 1l/ha, at full flowering and during pod development, it represents a highly suitable biostimulant to improve the green pea crop yield.

Conclusion

Argentina’s green pea cropped area is increasing rapidly. It’s not just because the end of the drought has restored fields to their optimum pulse-growing capacity, but also because in peas (and in pulses more generally) Argentina’s farmers have found a crop that can replace wheat in regions where it has lost profitability due to political, economic, and climatic conditions.

New crops demand new understandings and new techniques. We’re delighted to support Argentina’s growers in their adoption of crops like green peas.

Green chemicals

Larderello’s A-Z: from Agriculture to ZHS

Agriculture, you know all about.

But ZHS?

You’re forgiven if you’ve never heard of it. It stands for zinc hydroxystannate and Larderello is about to start making a lot more of it.

We’ll be honest at this point: ZHS is not a new agrochemical. At FertiGlobal, our focus remains our founding mission: to reduce the use of harsh chemicals in agriculture, by developing bio-activating technologies and advanced crop nutrition solutions that boost plant natural defences and improve resilience to climate change and other adversities.

Yet the overriding objective common to FertiGlobal and Larderello, as the sister operating units of SCL, is to build on over 200 years of chemical innovation by looking to new solutions – be those products or processes – that reduce environmental impact and increase safety.

This is why ZHS is so important. It’s from the important category of flame retardants – chemicals that, when added to other materials, slow down or inhibit the spread of fire. They’re in widespread use – think of fabrics, construction materials, even aircraft interiors. All use flame retardants to either help prevent accidents, or to slow the further development of flames should a fire take hold.

But in a parallel with agrochemicals, some of the earlier, more commonly used flame retardants are being phased out, as newer and safer products come to market. ZHS is one of those newer products: its non-toxic profile, ability to reduce smoke emissions and significant end-of-life environmental advantages (for example, it can be recycled without issue) have helped make it an ‘in demand’ chemical. It can be incorporated into a wide range of materials including important polymers (or plastics) such as PVC and nylon, including many of the plastics used in horticulture – for example in greenhouses.

Larderello started to manufacture ZHS in 2011. Now, with increased demand for the chemical and the company’s overall commitment to reduce its environmental footprint across every aspect of its operations – from production to end-use – the time has come to invest in a new plant that will not only double production capacity but also reduce the energy needed to produce every kilogram of ZHS.

What’s more, this commitment to greener technology, sustainable production and resource-efficiency qualifies the new plant as an Industry 5.0 project. In turn, that’s meant we’ve been granted a €6.5 million loan from UniCredit’s Futuro Sostenibile Plus, an initiative dedicated to companies that commit to improving their environmental, social and governance (ESG) performance.

That’s also come with the backing of the Growth Guarantee from SACE, the insurance-financial group owned by Italy’s Ministry of Economy and Finance. Which, as SACE itself explains, ‘elevates a company like SCL and contributes to our country’s green and digital transition goals’.

For us at FertiGlobal, the ZHS news reaffirms to us – and we hope our customers too – the real commitment that underlines the FertiGlobal approach. Sustainability isn’t just a veneer; it runs right through us, in everything we do.

Take EnNuVi, for example. Awarded through the European LIFE programme, this is – literally – a roots-up technology aiming to change the environmental impact of agriculture on the environment, without compromising the demand for food and productivity. By rethinking our approach, we were able to create a brand-new formulation combining bioactive polyphenols with nutritive elements. Its effect? The triggering and control of plants’ natural defences to counter biotic and abiotic stresses, all the while decreasing the use of pesticides, reducing water consumption, and improving on-farm resilience.

Wherever there’s an opportunity to reduce environmental impact, to make better use of resources, to make all our products human-centric – from flame-retardants to farming, we’ll do it.

Indian market

The Apples of Kashmir

It’s known as ‘the fruit bowl of India’ for good reason. Here in Jammu and Kashmir, in the northernmost region of the Indian subcontinent, horticulture contributes nearly 10 per cent to the state’s GDP.

Fertile soils combine with a variety of climate conditions to favour a diverse crop of fruits, vegetables, spices and flowers. Citrus, pomegranates, lychees, almonds, tulips, walnuts and even high-value saffron are the bounty of the region’s farmers.

But it’s apples that are the undisputed leader, for it’s here that more than 75% of India’s apples are grown. Yet despite the crop’s value, farmers are not without their challenges – disease, climate change and various economic hurdles among them.

It’s for this reason that FertiGlobal has chosen Kashmir for the launch of our Apple Crop Management Program (ACMP). We’ve talked in previous articles about how our ‘boots on the ground’ philosophy pays dividends: being out in the field regularly, seeing those end-user challenges first-hand, gives us our own reality check. And it’s from these regular visits conducted by our Global Business Development Manager, Claus Brakemeier, that we’ve come to appreciate the real appetite amongst Indian farmers for new technologies that can deliver better crop quality and production.

“Farmers want to understand how they can deploy new methods and techniques, particularly with regard to nutrition, to help them upscale productivity,” says Dr Rajesh Kumar Sharma, FertiGlobal’s Technical Manager in India.

“They’re looking for safer ways to manage their crop. The currently accepted crop management schedule is pesticide intensive, which not only poses environmental hazards but can also lower product quality,” Dr Sharma points out.

Farmers’ reliance on crop inputs has been highlighted by the region’s politicians, with one recently expressing concerns over the sale of unapproved or even fake fertilisers and pesticides. Farmers using these have suffered crop losses and soil degradation.

“The fact remains that India holds the world’s second-largest area of apple production, yet is ranked fifth globally in productivity: 7.5Mt/ha versus a world average of 15.5Mt/ha,” says Claus Brakemeier.

“India has fair scope to improve its apple productivity, given that the world’s best figures are at 44Mt/ha and 40.1Mt/ha, for France and Italy respectively.

“The secret lies in stress mitigation and stage-specific apple nutrition, with a focus on calcium and magnesium,” he continues, “and it’s this that forms the basis of the Apple Crop Management Program.”

At the heart of ACMP lies EnNuVi Technology-based products such as Mantus and Cautha. These products embody EnNuVi’s bioactivating Technology, with its unique ability to trigger and control crops’ defence and resistance mechanisms.

By turning on and off certain plant genes, EnNuVi Technlogy offers a robust stress mitigation strategy. Prevention being better than cure, crops treated in this manner are strong enough to defend themselves against pathogenic attack, removing or reducing the need for chemical intervention.

The launch of the Apple Crop Management Plan follows earlier visits to the region by Mr Brakemeier, and the completion of a FertiGlobal-sponsored study, “Biotic Stress Management under Agro Climatic conditions of North-Western Himalayas of Kashmir (India)”, conducted by Sher-e Kashmir University of Agriculture, Science and Technology, Shalimar (Srinagar) (SKAUST-K).

It builds directly on insights shared by Kashmir’s apple growers as well as SCL Commercial India, which represents FertiGlobal in India. ACMP links FertiGlobal’s research-based Technologies to the support that farmers need, as more than 300 progressive farmers and agri-input traders were told at an invitation-only event to mark the launch of ACMP.

Delivering his inaugural speech, the Chief Guest Dr Nazir Ahmad Ganai (Honourable Vice Chancellor, SKAUST-K), welcomed the presence of FertiGlobal and Mr Brakemeier in the region. In particular, he called out the ‘overwhelming impacts’ of abiotic stresses on the growth and productivity of crops, noting that they in turn posed a threat of the biotic stresses of fungi, bacteria and viruses. Together, this combination could ‘develop constraints to food security worldwide’.

Continuing, Dr Ganai expressed his delight at the partnership between SKAUST-K and FertiGlobal, hailing the exchange of ideas, discussions among experts, and the import of ‘world-class technologies’ that would help address the challenges and identify the opportunities in sustainable, quality apple production.

Dr Rifat Bhat, SKAUST-K’s Project Leader for the FertiGlobal partnership, shared her own experiences and observations of FertiGlobal Technologies in the research project. She explained how the concept of stress mitigation is holding up favourably in the field, producing consistent results. She also shared her opinion on how FertiGlobal products were influencing key metrics, including crop vigour and apple quality, notably colour, shape and size.

“This was a unique event bringing together the scientific community, distribution partners, progressive farmers and, importantly, the local media that’s key to knowledge transfer and mobilisation,” concludes Dr Sharma.

“The event emphasised the need for advanced nutrition technologies and how FertiGlobal, through combining scientific endeavour and commercial wisdom, is becoming a valued partner to Kashmir apple growers in their pursuit of improved apple crop productivity.”

*Dr. Rajesh Sharma (at the right side), together with mr. Tanveer, Country Manager SCL India (in the middle), and mr. Deepak, Sales Manager SCL India (at the left side)*

FertiGlobal’s patented EnNuVi Technology

Making the right impression with EnNuVi

You only get one chance to make a first impression, so the saying goes, and nowhere is that more applicable than with biological crop inputs.

Few would dispute that ‘biologicals’ – crop inputs containing, or derived from, naturally occurring substances such as microbes, or other plants – are on the rise. Yet the current generation of products owes much of their ascendancy to sustained work by manufacturers and developers to dispel the ‘backyard bathtub’ image that many growers associate with non-standard crop protection products.

Frustratingly for those with a focus on viable, non-conventional inputs, growers have often been right in their assessment of some of these ‘alternative’ products. Why? Because too many of them simply have not lived up to their claims. Once bitten, twice shy: growers became suspicious and doubtful about biologicals’ ability to deliver.

Knowing this is half the battle. At FertiGlobal it’s constantly in our minds. But we have one critical advantage: we are driven by a resolute commitment to research, using science and data responsibly, to develop technically robust products that can deliver clear results for growers.

That’s especially important to us because our products are not ‘standard’ biologicals.

Of course, our R&D activities are not just limited to the lab. We need to test and check our products under field conditions. And that’s what led us to Germany this year, where we’ve been delighted with a new set of trials, conducted under the watchful eye of the Bavarian State Research organisation.

Specifically, these trials examined the performance of EnNuVi in typical German crops, under typical conditions. EnNuVi – an acronym of Enhance, Nurture, Vitalize – is a worldwide patented bioactivating Technology that has a unique ability to trigger and control plants’ defence and resistance systems. EnNuVi Technology based products regulate and influence the genes in the plant, helping to protect it from stress events. Its molecule of essential plant nutrients, active polyphenols and selected natural ingredients helps the crop to grow, healthy and strong, to reach its full yield potential.

What’s really special about all EnNuVi Technology based products is that by boosting a crop’s natural defence systems, they can significantly reduce pesticide use. That meets the central tenets of FertiGlobal’s philosophy: reducing farming’s impact on the environment, and ensuring farmers can deliver high-yielding, high-quality output without requiring excessive resource use (EnNuVi also reduces crops’ water consumption).

Focused on potatoes, these trials in Germany were demonstration trials, carried out on commercial farms and designed to open farmers’ eyes to EnNuVi potential.

Across five farms, the trials included:

LG Oettersdorf*

Left: standard practice + Mantus and Thesan; Right: standard practice

The farmer put 10ha of his potatoes into the demo trials, one-tenth of his total potato area. The picture shows the variety Lilly, one of 40 varieties grown at this farm.

The farmer reported that plants treated with EnNuVi were more stable, an observation confirmed during subsequent assessments.

Five different fungicides were used to check EnNuVi Technology based products.

Agrahof Gospersgrün

Overview of ware potato trial

A farm growing 14 varieties of potatoes, with a similar fungicide programme.

LWB Dziabel

Plot ware potato trial

This farm also grows Lilly, a popular variety, alongside crops of Laura, Bellana and Afra, of which 0.4 ha was given over to the trial. This farmer also trialled EnNuVi on a crop of leeks, with clearly evident results.

Agrargenossenschaft Lößnitz-Stollberg*

Left: standard practice + Mantus and Thesan; Right: standard practice (sample taken from one plant)

Another multi-variety farm, here Baltic Rose and Milva were cultivated with EnNuVi.

Agrar Dresdner Vorland

Left: standard practice + Mantus and Thesan; Right: standard practice

Five hectares of Laura were treated with EnNuVi. The participating farmer was so happy with the results, that he wants to apply EnNuVi to the rest of the crop

(*) farms producing seed potatoes. The others are producing ware potatoes.

Notes and observations:

Across all sites, vegetative growth was complete
Flowering partially completed
Climatic conditions: wet
Fungicide application internal was 7 days (Lößnitz-Stollberg: 5 days)
Phytophthora disease stress was high. Where EnNuVi was applied, less disease stress was observed
EnNuVi-treated crops yielded potatoes that were significantly wider, larger and uniform, across the 35-40mm size standard
All farmers were satisfied and convinced with the effect of EnNuVi, with only one neutral opinion (Lößnitz-Stollberg).

Fantastic results: simple but effective, measured and easily reproducible, it’s trials like these that can – without showy or excessively confident claims – win back farmers’ belief and interest in bringing real alternative products into their farming systems, and give them the insight they need to be assured that they’re making a good decision.

And it’s also great for us at FertiGlobal. In the coming months, we’re going to put new focus on EnNuVi and strive to define the best positioning that will deliver best value to the grower.

We believe the EnNuVi value proposition should be to protect crop yields through more resilient plants, under any adverse conditions – thus protecting farmers’ investments.

This is our contribution to the sustainability and quality of crop production.

Biostimolanti in campo

A new approach to crop protection: how FertiGlobal defines innovation

Independent trials show the way

This leading Italian publication field-tested FertiGlobal’s products. Here’s what they found.

Established in 1945, L’Informatore Agrario is one of the most respected agricultural publications in Italy. Read weekly by more than 40,000 people, including breeders and technicians, farmers and agritech entrepreneurs, it’s come to be seen as one of the most qualified – and fiercely independent – sources of agronomic information available to the Italian crop production sector.

So, it’s not surprising that when the magazine launched an innovative new project – Biostimolanti in Campo (Biostimulants in the Field) – to help them understand the novel and exciting world of biostimulants, and how to incorporate them into their production systems, they attracted considerable support.

Not only is the project run in collaboration with the Centro Sperimentale Ortofloricolo Po di Tramontana di Veneto Agricoltura – the Venetian agency for innovation in the land-based industries – but it’s also garnered the backing of OP Isola Verde, a consortium of 19 businesses cultivating more than 280ha of greenhouse crops under organic and integrated crop management regimes.

And as if that’s not enough, the whole scheme’s scientific rigour is co-ordinated by four of Italy’s leading universities: Tuscia, Salerno, Naples and Padua. This project is about as independent as it can be.

“It’s that striking independence that attracted FertiGlobal to get involved in the project,” says Mohammed Mahboubi, Area Manager Mediterranean. “Biostimulants present a valuable and viable set of tools to help farmers improve the yield and quality of horticultural crops.

“With the EU’s Farm to Fork strategy encouraging a reduction in the use of agrochemicals and synthetic fertilisers, there’s a distinct role for biostimulants within farmers’ production strategies.”

Initially, the project covers just four crops: processing tomatoes, melons, zucchini (courgettes) and rocket.

“With the novel nature of many biostimulants, and the rapid R&D progress that FertiGlobal and others like us are achieving, there’s a real need for independent, farm-level research to help with practical knowledge transfer to improve usage and on-farm performance across a wide range of crops.

“Biostimolanti in Campo does just that. It’s a collaborative approach, bringing together not only the universities’ rigorous scientific overview and the expertise of the research centres, but also commercial diversity: it’s very promising that FertiGlobal is joined by other companies active in the biostimulant sector, to engage in this essential undertaking.”

Mohammed points out that the independent nature of the project allows evaluation of more than just the effect of biostimulants: it’s also about their economic convenience. “When manufacturers release information about margins and cost-benefit ratios, it can sometimes be perceived as biased, but through Biostimolanti in Campo we can demonstrate an impartial economic assessment.”

Processing tomatoes were one of the crops for which FertiGlobal supplied three products for the 2023 trials programme: ALPAN, CAUTHA and CREO.

ALPAN, a concentrated suspension of Mg and bioactive polyphenols, was developed to improve the translocation of photo assimilates – the products of photosynthesis – to promote root growth and increase sugar production. It also serves to bolster plants’ natural defence mechanisms and offers some protection against drought stress.

CAUTHA comprises a similar set of bioactive polyphenols, this time co-formulated with Ca. Reducing the effect of biotic and abiotic stress on plants, it maintains chlorophyll levels and helps the crop accumulate valuable osmo-protective molecules.

CREO is a foliar fertiliser fortified with L-methionine. The addition of this important amino acid serves to improve the uniformity of fruit ripening and increases Brix.

A programme comprising all three products was devised by the independent trials team:

Weeks since transplanting	Crop growth stage	Product applied	Rate	Water volume
7	Fruit growth commencing	CAUTHA	2L/ha	1000L/ha
8	Fruit growth commencing	CAUTHA	2L/ha	1000L/ha
9	Fruit growth complete	CAUTHA+ALPAN	2L/ha	1000L/ha
10	Fruit growth complete	ALPAN	2L/ha	1000L/ha
11	Beginning to mature	CREO	3L/ha	1000L/ha
12	30% fruit mature	CREO	3L/ha	1000L/ha
13	30% fruit mature

“We were very pleased with the results,” Mohammed enthuses. “The FertiGlobal protocol delivered a 17.6t/ha increase over the farmer standard practice. At prices in place at the time, that would add nearly €3,500/ha to a grower’s margin.

“But it wasn’t just quantity – yield – that improved; we saw some dramatic increases in quality too.”

Overall, fruit from treated plants displayed better vigour, and was more consistent – an important parameter for transport and processing. There was also a slight increase in

°Brix.

“This is but one trial”, says Mohammed, “albeit one carried out independently by well-regarded and prestigious organisations.

“However, it clearly shows the ability of well-developed, science-led biostimulants to improve not just profitability on-farm – that €3,500/ha increase comes from an investment of just €200/ha in input costs – but environmental performance too.

“One-fifth of the treated fruit was rejected, compared to one-quarter from the control plots. We know we have a problem with food waste, but efforts to reduce it begin at the farm, way before it reaches the fork.

“We look forward to continuing to work with L’Informatore Agrario on Biostimolanti in Campo,” Mohammed concludes. “There’s work still to be done: to progress further with the on-farm knowledge transfer, yes, but also in the exciting direction of seeing how biostimulants and innovative solutions can be used to reduce both plant protection products input and irrigation demands while maintaining production output and efficiency.

“Biostimulants, bioactivators and innovative nutritive solutions really are the new frontier for crop production.”

News from India

Our Indian partner awarded

India produces approx 1.7mt of chillis every year!

Which is probably why it was a hot topic at the farmer meet Raj Agritech Pvt. ltd. recently!

We were happy to join the proceedings and see progressive farmers receive awards for their work.

Field trials

Field trials in The Netherlands

Another exciting EnNuVi trial!

This time EnNuVi Tages is being trialled on an onion crop in the Netherlands.

This project has been set up with our partner, CEBECO-Agrifirm, to monitor the impact our cutting edge Crop Nutrition technology can have on the crop.

News from Scandinavia

Field trials in Denmark

Introducing EnNuVi to Scandinavia!

Take a look at our field trials in Denmark which include large-scale potato crops.

Proud to be working on these trials with great partners Aarhus University, Nordic Beet Research Foundation, and BJ-Agro.

Philippine market

Bigay Tibay

Wishing our Philippine team Good Luck with their Crop Management programme launch Bigay Tibay (meaning Give strength, give stability, strong foundation).

The team met for their first face to face meeting last month and are excited to be launching four new FertiGlobal products to the market including Turan, Semia, Nemes and OK.

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#Innovation Archives - FertiGlobal

Nematodes get the (bio) boot in Brazil

News from the markets

Nematodes get the (bio) boot in Brazil

Feeling the pulse in Argentina

Focus on pulses

Feeling the pulse in Argentina

Larderello’s A-Z: from Agriculture to ZHS

Green chemicals

Larderello’s A-Z: from Agriculture to ZHS

The Apples of Kashmir

Indian market

The Apples of Kashmir

Making the right impression with EnNuVi

FertiGlobal’s patented EnNuVi Technology

Making the right impression with EnNuVi

How FertiGlobal defines innovation through a new approach to crop protection

Biostimolanti in campo

A new approach to crop protection: how FertiGlobal defines innovation

Our Indian partner awarded

News from India

Our Indian partner awarded

Field trials in The Netherlands

Field trials

Field trials in The Netherlands

Field trials in Denmark

News from Scandinavia

Field trials in Denmark

Bigay Tibay

Philippine market

Bigay Tibay

Wishing our Philippine team Good Luck with their Crop Management programme launch Bigay Tibay (meaning Give strength, give stability, strong foundation).