AgroPages-Making good even better: Adding micronutrients to seed coatings-Agricultural news

High-performance coating technologies for improved flowability, sowability, and adhesion as well as differentiation through coloring: This is what Bayer SeedGrowth® Coatings stand for. We talked to Clemence Courtois and Markus Borkowski, both very experienced Bayer SeedGrowth experts who are passionate about groundbreaking solutions that make seed coatings even more efficient, about Peridiam® Active 109 – and why micronutrients really make a difference.

Fungicide only Fungicide ST and Peridiam® Active 109

Every Peridiam line has its very own features to meet customers’ demands. What exactly characterizes the Peridiam Active line?

Clemence Courtois: “The Peridiam Active line is based on the Peridiam Quality line. It’s a seed coating with additional value-adding benefits and it promotes early plant development. The idea behind it is that we have all the things that we also need in a conventional high-quality seed coating, such as very good flowability, dust control, and good visual appearance, but on top of that we added micronutrients.”

What are the benefits of adding micronutrients to the seed coating?

Clemence Courtois: “It depends on the micronutrients that you add. I can give you an example with zinc, manganese, and molybdenum: these three micronutrients are successfully added to Peridiam Active 109. This combination supports chlorophyll development and has a positive impact on root growth, especially in poor soils.”

How do these three micronutrients act in particular?

Markus Borkowski: “While zinc really plays a key role in many enzymatic systems, such as photosynthesis or the conversion of sugars into starch, manganese is necessary for enzymatic activities like chlorophyll synthesis. Compared to these two micronutrients, the need for molybdenum might seem very limited, at only ten grams per hectare and year, but it’s compulsory for nitrate reduction and nitrogen metabolism.”

What are the key crops and regions of the Peridiam Active line?

Clemence Courtois: “Currently, we use it mainly for corn and cereals. When we talk about key regions, we have demand for cereals in Europe – especially Eastern European countries, where we have had good experience for several years in Poland, for example. In the meantime, we are launching this product step by step in several European countries, such as Serbia, Romania, and Spain. Furthermore, we are focusing on the Asia Pacific region, and in Latin America we see strong demand in Argentina, mainly for corn and soybeans.”

You already mentioned Peridiam Active 109. What is so special about this seed coating?

Clemence Courtois: “Peridiam Active 109 is a seed coating dedicated to cereals and it works in many combinations with different kinds of seed treatment products. It supports early plant development by adding the micronutrients zinc, manganese, and molybdenum, and provides the cereal crop with a balanced nutrient add-on at germination. Moreover, it keeps the dust level well below the critical threshold. So far we have had absolutely positive results with our Bayer SeedGrowth products like Redigo® Pro, for instance, and also Bariton® Perfect. But of course, Peridiam Active 109 is performing well with other products and combinations as well.”

Could you tell us more about the trials?

Markus Borkowski: “We did some laboratory trials in the UK. And what we saw was faster germination of combinations that included Peridiam Active 109. Moreover, there was an effect on maximum root depth and we observed enhanced root biomass in combinations with this seed coating. And there was an indication that the addition of Peridiam Active 109 also enhanced the chlorophyll content under nutrient-limited conditions. We also observed a trend that the addition of Peridiam Active 109 had a positive effect on early shoot growth.”

Could you describe the effect on the roots a little bit more in detail?

Markus Borkowski: “There were some significant beneficial effects in the tests on root growth. Under the nutrient-limited conditions all the treatments that included Peridiam Active 109 in addition to the fungicide showed faster germination and enhancement of early root growth.”

What are Bayer’s plans for the Peridiam Active line?

Clemence Courtois: “The aim is to develop this line as one of the cornerstones in our future portfolio. Currently, we are really focused on cereals with Peridiam Active 109 (red color) and Peridiam Active 110 (colorless). But we will soon launch a third product in cereals with a wider range of micronutrients to have a broader selection for all customer segments and country requirements. This will be Peridiam Active 112, a new combination of four micronutrients to add even more benefits and support a plant’s early growth stage even better. We are currently doing some testing to gain more insights into the potential positive impact compared to the current line. This seed coating is supposed to be launched in France first before being launched in other European countries within the next three years. With this seed coating we are going to complete our Peridiam Active family in cereals, so that we have a broad range to cover different customer segments and market needs.”

Are there even more new seed coatings in the pipeline?

Markus Borkowski: “Yes, there are more innovations in the pipeline as we are currently working on new products for other crops as well: we are preparing a new Peridiam Active seed coating for corn, for example. The product could be launched in 2021 in Europe, followed by Latin American countries. The goal of this product is once again to have a wider range of micronutrients and to fulfill future regulations regarding dust control, combined with good flowability of the treated seeds and a superb red look.”