b'Biostimulants helpwith root growth, improve stress tolerance and promote greater photosynthetic capacity. PHOTO: ALANBAYLOCK, NUTRIENThe 411 on Biostimulants As biostimulants have grown in popularity with many options available, you may be wondering what these products are and if theyre right for your farm.BY: TREENA HEINBIOSTIMULANTS REPRESENT a rapidly growing area of interest for boost- acids (humic, fulvic), seaweed/kelp extract, hormones and enzymes. They ing many aspects of crop production, but researchers are urging cautioncan be divided into two categoriessynthetic such as inorganic salts and for evaluating the value of these innovative products. natural like algal extracts. A wide variety of biostimulants are being developed to enhance nutrientIn potatoes, Tommy Roach, vice-president of product development and uptake or availability through boosting root growth, solubilizing certain nutri- technical services at Nachurs Alpine Solutions, explains humic acids have ents, and/or stimulating growth of soil microorganisms, says Alan Blaylock,long been used to help improve phosphorus uptake, especially in light of the senior agronomist at Nutrien.fact that a potato plant is very inefficient in acquisition and uptake of this There are dozens if not hundreds of products on the market, but in manynutrient.cases, their active ingredients and the modes of action of those ingredientsHe adds foliar-applied biostimulants are gaining popularity in potatoes, are not well known. Some may affect crop gene expression or elicit stressbut their effectiveness on yield and tuber quality has not yet been determined. tolerance or stimulate the plant in some other way, but often little is knownWhile biostimulants can generally increase root growth, improve stress about why the response is occurring. tolerance and promote greater photosynthetic capacity, Roach says increases Biostimulants are substances or microorganisms whose function, whenin yield are typically offset by a reduction in tuber quality. applied to plants or the rhizosphere (soil zone directly surrounding the roots), is to stimulate natural processes to benefit nutrient uptake, nutrient useBIOSTIMULANT PRODUCT DEVELOPMENT efficiency, tolerance to abiotic stress and/or crop quality, according to Nutrien.In the development of biostimulants, Yara Biostimulants Product Manager They include amino acids, sugars, alcohols, fermentation metabolites, organicAntonis Angeletakis says its very important for a companys research and 30 SPUDSMART.COM FALL 2020'