The US biological crop protection company BioWorks has launched BioRain Ax, a microbial inoculant meant to help crops keep growing when water is short.
The product contains a consortium of beneficial bacteria, Priestia megaterium, Bacillus subtilis and Bacillus paralicheniformis, which colonise the root zone. According to the company, they improve soil structure, help the soil hold water and make nutrients more available, so roots develop better and plants reach water and nutrients more efficiently.
BioRain Ax is aimed at outdoor specialty crops, ornamentals, greenhouses, nurseries and other high-value production. It is a liquid that can be applied to the soil or through irrigation and used alongside existing crop protection programmes.
In a company field trial on watermelon, treated plants produced fruit 14.5 percent heavier than untreated ones, with less fruit cracking, more uniform production and better foliage, BioWorks said. The result comes from that one trial, and performance may differ with crop, soil and growing conditions.
"Growers need products that work in real-world conditions and help them protect yield when access to water is limited," said Chris Rose, general manager at BioWorks. The product is sold in one-gallon containers through authorised distributors across the United States, except California.
Photo: Zeynel Cebeci / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0)
Source: Global Agriculture
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