Improving Water Utilization
Biostimulants are emerging as powerful allies to plants in the battle against environmental stresses like droughts and heavy rainfall.
These plant health products enhance resilience by promoting stronger root development, improving water and nutrient uptake, and strengthening the plant’s natural defense mechanisms. They play a crucial role in effective water management practices by creating better soil structure and improving both drainage and water retention.
In recent years, there has been notable progress in understanding the molecular mechanisms controlling plant responses and adaptations to drought and rain deluge. By stimulating nutrient absorption, root growth, and stress response mechanisms, biostimulants enhance a plant’s ability to withstand environmental changes and optimize growth and productivity.
“Biostimulants can stimulate beneficial microbes in the soil, and what these beneficial microbes, bacteria and fungi, are able to do is promote a plant's ability to manage drought stress through effective regulation of their stomata to maximize water use efficiency when they are dealing with low moisture conditions,” says Gus Plamann, Senior Technical Agronomist, Biome Makers. “Microbes also can improve the conditions of the soil in ways that improve water retention, and ultimately better allow the plant access to moisture.”
Enhancing how biostimulants work to improve water use efficiency in plants is crucial as it can help crops grow better when facing a drought. It also offers a sustainable solution for farmers wanting to optimize and preserve the use of an increasingly precious resource: irrigation water.
“The first thing is improving the water retention and absorption inside the plant. The biomolecules inside our biostimulant work through biochemical actions on the plant physiology,” says Alfredo Sgrignuoli, Global Product Manager for Nutrient Use Efficiency and Inoculant Technologies, Syngenta Biologicals. “The second thing is optimizing plant water use. We work to increase the Water Use Efficiency (WUE) parameter, which enhances photosynthesis and permits better biomass allocation, while increasing important health indices and the biosynthesis of key intermediate metabolites necessary for plant growth.”
Over the last three decades, advancements in biostimulant formulations have improved in mitigating the impact of abiotic stressors on plant growth and development. But in just the last few years, the industry has seen exponential growth in improved efficacy.
“A lot of the early biostimulants and biologicals, especially the nitrogen-fixing seed treatments used for soybeans and legumes, were typically single strain,” Plamann says. “Going back to products that were around in the ’90s and early 2000s to now, there's been a lot more of a focus on more diverse products that might have five or 10, or even 20 or more different strains that they're culturing and packaging within a biostimulant.”
Biostimulants are now being formulated with specific conditions in mind like salinity, drought, or excessive rain.
In a case study involving Replenish Nutrients, a Canadian biostimulant company, biofertilizer was applied to a treatment zone on a golf course for three years. The treated area was able to promote more efficient water absorption.
“They had a big rain event this year with a major downpour occurring in a matter of an hour or two, and the water just went right through and soaked up into the treated area,” Plamann says. “Basically, instead of being hindered by poor drainage, puddling, and erosion, the grass looked really healthy thanks to the changes in the microbiome. We quantified with our BeCrop technology that the levels of microbes producing phytohormones that promote plant stress tolerance like salicylic acid, increased in the soil. We also saw increases in microbes that build soil organic matter through decomposition.”
There are crops and regions where the use of biostimulants has demonstrated significant success in addressing water scarcity and other abiotic stress challenges.
“The Mediterranean region has some areas characterized by hot, dry summers and mild, wet winters,” says Giovanni Marrollo, Global Product Manager for Biostimulant Technologies, Syngenta Biologicals. “The crops like corn, wheat, grapes, and citrus trees have benefitted from biostimulant applications. Another example is in California, which often faces drought conditions, where the production of almonds and grapes, as well as different fruits and vegetables, have benefitted from the use of biostimulants.”
In the western U.S., farmers are turning to alternative solutions to help grow crops with profitable yields as environmental regulations continue to mount.
“In the California specialty crop market, where crops need a lot of irrigation, water is a big factor in ROI because we know crops that aren't irrigated can fail to produce, and irrigation water can be heavily regulated due to concerns about depletion and environmental issues,” Plamann says. “That's where I'm seeing biostimulants and other soil amendments that focus on addressing water efficiency being used.”
Integrating biostimulants into existing irrigation and crop protection systems still poses challenges and other limitations.
1. Compatibility
“You know you have to make absolutely sure that the chemistries are compatible, so your microorganisms aren't going to be killed off,” says Darrin Potter, Director of Market Development for Terra Vera and COO of Cultivation Structures.
2. Water Quality
“There are a lot of challenges related to water quality, which can be very high in salt and stress crops,” Plamann says. “We know that a lot of microbes don't like to be exposed to a lot of salt, either. In some places, high levels of salt, calcium, and other minerals may make microbial biostimulants less suitable if a water treatment system isn’t available.”
3. Quality
“The market is flooded with biostimulant products from various manufactures, some of which have sub-optimal and low levels of bioactive content. Several of these products are ineffective and have product claims that are not proven scientifically. This has created skepticism among growers on the usage of biostimulants,” says a spokesperson from BioAtlantis Ltd. “It is critical that growers understand the quantity of active components and bioactives declared on a biostimulant label.”
Biostimulants alone can work to help with drought and rain deluges, but some products and technology in the marketplace can help them to be more successful.
Biome Makers anticipates that the accessibility of BeCrop Technology will contribute to advancements in sustainable agriculture practices, particularly in terms of irrigation, reducing water or helping plants survive rain deluges.
“The technology allows growers to understand where they are today relative to stress adaptation, water holding capacity, and their overall crops’ ability to cope with stress like reduced water or heavy rain events,” says Meri Mullins, Director of Global Accounts, Biome Makers.
This information can help growers to see the effects of plant health products on water usage and crop health, giving them information about what products are needed or not.
Another product on the market is using nano technology to help products like biostimulants be more effective.
Mark Slavens, President and COO for Nano-Yield, says his company’s technology can be used to reduce water use in growing crops as well as help growers adjust to climate change. “When crops come in contact with tough conditions, they're naturally prone to shut down stomata, harden off the root system, and plant cell walls become thicker. It's harder to get nutrients into the plant. The main benefit of our technology is we help get water and nutrients into the plant, and in doing that, we can help reduce the amount of water needed.”
As companies continue to research and create options for growers to be successful with a growing number of environmental challenges, biostimulants are gaining popularity due to their low-cost and efficacy.
“You think about other ways to improve water holding capacity of soils or improve overall soil health, and it is often through big management changes like introducing cover crops or changing tillage practices, which can sometimes require big investments in new equipment,” Mullins says. “Integrating biostimulants into your existing irrigation system or existing product application system is an amazing opportunity to increase resilience in the short term without the need for major changes in equipment or other practices.”
