Rizobacter, Marrone Bio Innovations launch Vitagrow in Argentina

Agriculture is currently facing a complex situation caused by climate change, the intensification of agricultural practices and population growth. By 2050, it is estimated that 10% of crops will suffer marked yield losses caused by various stresses, while, during the same period, a need to increase food production by 70% with less environmental impact is projected.

Under this context, Rizobacter and Marrone Bio Innovations, came together to launch a new crop nutrition technology, Vitagrow, which is an organic-mineral fertilizer for foliar application characterized by being a biostimulant that is anti-stress, detoxifying and offers complementary nutrition.

Gustavo Ferraris (Researcher at INTA Pergamino-Buenos Aires) evaluated the active features of Vitagrow during the last three soybean and corn campaigns in the Argentine core zone. "It is a very interesting technology that has shown remarkable results, especially in conditions where crops face growth restrictions, such as periods of water stress, defoliation or interactions with herbicides that cause phytotoxicity," he said.

“The underpinning of crop nutrition is part of a new trend and an intermediate step between physiology and nutrition, whose use in the field at an extensive level by producers offers a wide potential for growth in subsequent campaigns,” Ferraris explained.

André Zabini (Technical Director of Agronómico SA-Paraguay) noted that he carried out field tests on the use of Vitagrow on soybeans during two consecutive harvests in 2019-2020, as well as on corn in the second harvest of 2020. “In soybeans, productivity increases were registered in both conditions, with and without water stress, but with more expressive results in less stressful conditions,” he said.

In the case of corn, Zabini pointed out, "Extreme climatic conditions with long periods of lack of water and high temperatures were recorded and the product further demonstrated a positive effect with significant increases in yield. The results confirm that such products are a good strategy for obtaining high yields in summer crops," he added.

Esteban Hoffman (CEO of Unicampo-Uruguay) explained Vitagrow's response to post-emergent herbicide applications on soybeans and barley. "Our experience was a very interesting surprise, in particular, because the product helped promote bioremediation in stress situations caused by the phytosanitary products used at the production level," he stated.

Hernán Zorrilla (Director of consulting firm ASINAGRO-Uruguay) has been testing the active principle of Vitagrow at a trial level on rice over the last two years. "On the one hand, the product was observed to offer some extra performance, and helped reduce the phytotoxic effects of various herbicides, something we consider to be very important," he said.

In particular, the product was tested on the CL rice hybrid widely planted in Uruguay, which tends to present problems when using imidazolinones in cold seasons, and showed a reduction in phytotoxicity. "We have also seen the interesting effect of reducing phytotoxicity with respect to Clomazone in the Merín variety, which occupies a high percentage of Uruguay’s cultivated area," he added.

ABOUT THE PRODUCT

Vitagrow has a biostimulating effect that affects the expression of key genes and generates positive results on the physiology of crops. It also promotes the growth of plants by increasing energy and absorption of nutrients. Due to its anti-stress effect, it favors nutritional and metabolic stability and creates a physiological state of comfort for cultivation, enabling the reduction of stress factors that restrict productivity, such as low humidity during planting, dry or very humid periods, low fertility in soils, high temperatures, waterlogging and excessive disease pressures.

In terms of its detoxifying effects, Vitagrow minimizes and even prevents the appearance of phytotoxicity symptoms caused by the presence of residual molecules or by the application of post-emergent herbicides, which can delay or impair the proper development of plants. It, therefore, improves the effectiveness of phytosanitary treatments and favors rapid coverage and competition. Finally, it has a nutritional effect that complements the base fertilization carried out during sowing, with rapid absorption and mobility within the plant. Through its exclusive formula, it provides 16 essential macro and micro-nutrients to crops, which are potassium, sulfur, boron, zinc, magnesium, cobalt, molybdenum, nitrogen, phosphorus, manganese, copper, iron, silicon, calcium, sodium and nickel.

It is used at low doses and, in addition to having excellent solubility, can be applied with herbicides, insecticides, fungicides and traditional liquid fertilizers.

The original Spanish version of this piece is from infocampo.com.ar.