Biotrop CEO: Nod factors and biphasic formulations make our inoculants special

Editor’s note: As a widely commercialized product, Bradyrhizobium-based inoculants have great market prospects. According to data disclosed in the "Manual for Bioinput Analysis for Agricultural Use: Inoculants" recently released by the Brazilian Agricultural Research Corporation (Embrapa), in the 2022/23 soybean season, inoculants with Bradyrhizobium bacteria were used on 85% of cultivated area, while co-inoculation, or the combined use of Bradyrhizobium and Azospirillum, was used on some 35% of the country’s crop area, highlighting the advancement of this technology.

The use of inoculants can provide tremendous economic benefits. As mentioned in the ″Manual″ published by Embrapa, in soybean crops alone, over $25 billion is saved annually by using inoculants with nitrogen-fixing bacteria.

Recently, we spoke to some experts who are well-versed in Bradyrhizobium inoculants to gain a deeper understanding of this type of product. The experts are: Adam Fast, Field Solutions Specialist at Lallemand Plant Care; Dr. Manas Banerjee, President & CEO of XiteBio; Marc Beland, Senior Director Agriculture at Premier Tech; Andrea de Figueiredo Giroldo, Marketing and Technical Development Director at Agrocete, and Antonio Carlos Zem, CEO at Biotrop. 

Below is the transcript of the interview with Antonio Carlos Zem, CEO at Biotrop.

Antonio Carlos Zem

CEO at Biotrop

Could you describe Biotrop's different Bradyrhizobium inoculant products, including the premium offerings with nod factors and biphasic formulations?

In fact, many companies have in its portfolio products based in Bradyrhizobium, which aims supply nitrogen to soybean by the biological nitrogen fixation process (BNF). 

In this segment, Biotrop dispose of different technologies to support different market needs, with basic products, focused in cell concentration essentially, but we also offer products with significant differentiation compared to competition, including technologies with specific compounds like the Lipo-chitooligosaccharide, also known as nod factors, besides biphasic products. 

The first differentiated one is produced under an osmotic stress condition, mimetizing the plant flavonoids, inducing the cellular biosynthesis of the nod factors. This feature makes the product more efficient in stablishes the symbiosis, turning faster the nodulation processes. In other words, the BNF starts earlier and is more effective. 

The second one, a biphasic inoculant that bring in its liquid formulation a specific amount of solid-state organic matter, derived from some characteristic environments. With this association, Biotrop offer another premium inoculant with longer shelf life and tolerant to environmental stressful conditions, such as high temperatures, salinity and acid pH of soils. It’s worth to mention that all the Biotrop's Bradyrhizobium based products present the better quality parameters, as cell concentration, stability and purity.

What quality control measures does Biotrop take to ensure purity, consistency, and performance of its Bradyrhizobium products?

We have no doubt that to guarantee a quality product to our customers, trials that guarantee the quality of the product until the final process are essential in all of our production steps. In addition to cellular concentration, we rely on microbiological and molecular analyzes to guarantee the purity of our products, and we do not tolerate the presence of contaminants, even in minimal concentrations. 

Regarding consistency, we renew our strain bank every year to ensure the genetic stability of the microorganisms used in our industry, complementing it with nodulation efficiency tests in our advanced research centers. Finally, we value the quality of the raw materials used in the industrial process, with specific parameters of validation and certification of suppliers. 

Based on field trial data, what typical yield increases or ROI can growers expect to see when using your products?

With the practice of inoculation, already adopted for most of farmers in Brazil during many years, which include the use of Bradyrhizobium-based inoculant in soybean cultivation, excluding the need for the farmer to carry out the application of 240 kg of nitrogen/ha, what means a huge save with the reduce the production costs. Furthermore, reinoculation of soybeans every year can provide to farmers improvements in terms of 8% in productivity. About ROI, all the Biotrop technologies, on average, gives to our customers a return of 7 dollars for every 1 dollar invested.

What formulation approach does your product utilize to enhance the performance?

At Biotrop we understand that the formulation of biological products involves different approaches, from the composition of the cultivation medium for the microorganism’s multiplication, to fermentative parameters. The combination of carbon and nitrogen sources, as well as the ratio between these nutrients, the pH buffering system of the medium, in addition to the use of polymers that promote osmotic protection are fundamental for a stable Bradyrhizobium-based product. Therefore, there is no recipe, a single way, achieving differentiation in terms of performance of a biological product combines multiple factors that converge for Biotrop's success in the field.

What unique challenges or hurdles did your company's R&D team need to overcome in developing Bradyrhizobium inoculant product?

The Bradyrhizobium inoculant, mainly in Brazil, despite being widely adopted for soybean fields, has a commoditized market value. In other words, the industry and R&D do not have margin for large investments in formulation improvements. We believe that this is the main challenge of research team, improving product performance without the production cost exceeding the market value of the product.

Could you explain the benefits of Biotrop's products combining Bradyrhizobium with other beneficial microbes?

The combination of microorganisms makes lots of sense from a biological point of view. It is possible to deliver different action modes, for example BNF and increased nutritional efficiency in terms of other macronutrients. One example is the use of Bradyrhizobium with plant growth-promoting organisms, such as Azospirillum brasilense, a technology called coinoculation in Brazil. 

Still in this sense, Biotrop brought to the market, in firsthand, a product called Biofree, composed of a bacterium that promotes plant growth and a phosphorus solubilizer, A. Brasilense and Pseudomonas fluorescens, respectively. In this aspect, Biotrop is a pioneer in the development of biological products with consortiums of microorganisms, combining different functions and mechanisms of action in a single product, bringing practicality and innovation to agriculture, not only for biostimulants, but also for biodefense products. 

All these technologies, from Bradyrhizobium-based products to multifunctional consortia, makes Biotrop an innovative company, complete in biological solutions, which greatly contributes to the sustainability and profitability of agribusiness, as well as the safety food production. 

In your opinion, what are the emerging trends in the development and application of Bradyrhizobium inoculant in the future, including expansion to non-legume crops?

Inoculant products based on Bradyrhizobium are a reality in Brazil, different from what happens in other countries prominent in soybean production, such as the United States and China. Therefore, new technologies, efficient in supplying nitrogen to soybeans, will be important for these geographies, enabling production with greater ROI associated with environmental preservation. 

However, we cannot remain dependent on configured nitrogen fixing technologies only for soybean, and, in this aspect, Biotrop has innovated again with the development of a biological product with high capacity for supplying nitrogen to other crops, not -legumes, such as corn, wheat and sugar cane. Biological is a reality, it promotes the health of the modern agro-industrial system, and, therefore, soon will be the first management option in relation to chemical inputs, which will become an exception in agribusiness. 

This story was initially published in the 2024 Seed Treatment Special. Download the magazine to read more stories.

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