HOW TO REDUCE THE FERTILIZER RATE BY APPLYING BIOLOGICAL PRODUCTS - IN SEARCH OF FACTS

Ukraine is looking for ways to reduce the prime cost of grown produce. Due to the struggles with logistics chains, exports, insufficient circulating assets, the lack of possibility of timely harvesting at the end of the 2022 season, as well as the global rise in the price of resources, farmers start reducing fertilizer costs and preparing for lower yields. The topic of reducing the fertilizer rate and using cheaper biological products to compensate for this reduction and preserve crop yield has been increasingly discussed. This issue causes fierce controversy that is why our editorial staff could not stay out of it. So, let's figure out whether biological products are a genuine alternative or a hyped topic in a challenging period?

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“We have been practicing reducing fertilizer rates without loss of yield by applying biological products since 2017. But now it has become particularly relevant,” - the Head of BTU-CENTER’s Department for Central and Southern regions Maksym Holovatiuk says. “Our Ukrainian microbiologists developed and tested the PK-mobilizer GROUNDFIX 6 years ago, it allows reducing the rate of fertilizers by up to 30%. Now, this product is used in 11 countries of the world, including the EU, and 86% of farmers see the result of its application. We have been attesting to this unique property - improvement of NPK fixation and absorption for 6 years already, but the effectiveness of the use of the product has been brought into sharp focus precisely this particular year, when farmers have no other option but to save on fertilizers.”

HOW DOES IT WORK?

The challenge of phosphorus and potassium nutrition is that the total reserves of these elements in most soils are substantial, but the share of available ones is insignificant. GROUNDFIX facilitates the release of phosphorus and potassium from the soil and mineral fertilizers, as a result, the rate of their absorption and fixation by a plant increases.

GROUNDFIX is a biological product that contains a unique complex of bacteria - Bacillus subtilis, Bacillus megaterium var. phosphaticum, Azotobacter chroococcum, Enterobacter, Paenibacillus polymyxa

These microorganisms produce specific biologically active substances - carboxylic acids, amino acids, polypeptides, polysaccharides, enzymes, phytohormones and antibiotics. It is due to them unavailable nutrients from the soil and fertilizers are transformed into forms available to a plant. In other words, calcium phosphates are transformed into a soluble form, and the release of phosphorus from aluminum and iron phosphates occurs, as well as phosphorus and potassium fixed by minerals. Apart from that atmospheric nitrogen is fixed and transformed into a form available to plants, the mobility and availability of silicon to plants increases, the development of the root system improves, the soil structure and its water availability enhance.

Let’s focus on the results of applied research.

WHAT DOES THE RESEARCH SAY?

1 – Kirovohrad region, Institute of Steppe Agriculture of the National Academy of Sciences

Soils on the territory of trials are ordinary black soils, medium humic and deep heavy loam soils. The effect of the PK-mobilizer GROUNDFIX during application of the full rate of mineral fertilizers (N60P60K60) and rate reduced by 30% (N42P42K42) on the yield of sunflower was studied. The method of application: pre-sowing cultivation. Compound NPK fertilizer (NPK 16:16:16) was used as fertilizer.

The following findings were obtained:

  1. Variant 1 (100% of the rate of mineral fertilizers - N60P60K60) - the yield of sunflower was 3.90 t/ha.

  2. Variant 2 (70% of the full rate of fertilizers – N42P42K42 with additional application of PK-mobilizer GROUNDFIX (2.5 l/ha) and biological stimulator Azotofit (1.5 l/ha), the yield of sunflower was 3.95 t/ha.

  3. Variant 3 (70% of the full rate of N42P42K42 fertilizers with additional application of GROUNDFIX (5 l/ha), the yield was 3.80 t/ha



2 – Vinnytsia region, Vinnytsia National Agrarian University

In order to obtain objective data on the effectiveness of GROUNDFIX with different rates of mineral fertilizers, a number of studies were conducted on sunflower, corn and soybean.

The soil of the test fields is gray forest medium loam (fallow).

SUNFLOWER

In the variant where only mineral fertilizers were used, the seed yield was 3.87 t/ha, and when using GROUNDFIX at the rate of 8 l/ha it was 3.85 t/ha. That means that in this case the application of GROUNDFIX (8 l/ha) can be equated to the application of mineral fertilizers at the rate of N60P60K60. Please note that this effect was achieved at a high level of soil fertility.

— The use of GROUNDFIX at rates of 3 and 5 l/ha contributed to an increase in yield, compared to the control, at the full rate of mineral fertilizers by 0.46 and 0.54 t/ha (12-14%), and at a reduced rate of application of the biological product by 30%, the yield increase was 0.22 and 0.29 t/ha (6-7%), respectively.

How much fertilizer can be saved?


CORN

When using the full rate of mineral fertilizers N90P90K90 (NPK 100%), the application of GROUNDFIX at rates of 3 and 5 l/ha increased the yield of corn by 0.65 and 2.32 t/ha, compared to the control (mineral fertilizers only).

Application of a rate of mineral fertilizers reduced by 30% (70% NPK) in combination with GROUNDFIX at rates of 3 l/ha and 5 l/ha provided an increase in yield compared to the control (100% NPK) of 1.23 and 1.45 t/ha, respectively.

Consequently, after analyzing the effect of mineral fertilizers on the yield of corn, it was found that the effectiveness of mineral fertilizers at their full rate of use, due to the application of GROUNDFIX at the rate of 5 l/ha, increased by 20%. In the case of reducing the full rate of fertilizers by 30% and applying GROUNDFIX at rates of 3 and 5 l/ha, the yield increase was slightly lower and amounted to 10 and 12%, respectively, but you should take into account additional financial savings obtained due to reduction of fertilizer use. The results of 2019 confirm similar data obtained at this institution in 2018 regarding the effectiveness of mineral fertilizers achieved due to the PK-mobilizer GROUNDFIX.

How much fertilizer can be saved?


SOYBEAN

— The use of GROUNDFIX at rates of 3 and 5 l/ha in combination with the full rate of mineral fertilizers increased the crop yield by 0.41 and 0.68 t/ha, compared to the application of mineral fertilizers only.

— In the case of a rate of fertilizers reduced by 30% and adding GROUNDFIX (3 and 5 l/ha), the yield increase was 0.21 and 0.5 t/ha, respectively.

After analyzing the increase in yield on the variant with the full rate of mineral fertilizers and biofertilizer GROUNDFIX® (5 l/ha), it was found that the effectiveness of applied fertilizers increased by 21% due to the bacterial product. In the case of a reduction of the full rate of fertilizers by 30% (and, thus, a decrease in the production prime cost) and application of GROUNDFIX at rates of 3 and 5 l/ha, the yield increase was 6 and 15%, respectively.

How much fertilizer can be saved?


WHAT FARMERS SAY

Oleksandr Chumak, Director of “Michurina+” LLC, Odesa region

The total area of cultivation in our two farms is 3,200 hectares. We have been working with BTU-CENTER Company since 2016. We use their products and quite significantly reduce the costs of some technologies. Especially now, when fertilizers are very expensive. We use systems of liquid fertilizer application when sowing. We do this in order to reduce the amount of rate per 1 ha. In other words, we reduce the rate of the active substance of phosphorus due to its fixation next to the seed in a more accessible form. We achieve this thanks to Potassium and Phosphorus-mobilizing bacteria contained in GROUNDFIX.

Thus, we managed to find proof that biological products can be a real way to save money. There are about ten manufacturers of biological products on the market - we conducted research using the Ukrainian company BTU-CENTER as an example. So, pay attention to the manufacturer, check the evidence base, check out the reviews, and draw your own conclusions. We wish you an abundant and healthy harvest in this victorious season!

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