Written by cpm
Download PDF Biostimulants have been used on crops for decades but the mechanisms they employ are only just beginning to be understood. CPM finds out how studying metabolites is helping elucidate biostimulant modes of action – a knowledge which could make them a precision tool in the future. Metabolites show what is actually happening in the plant. By Lucy de la Pasture Few would argue that biostimulants show promise and that’s reflected by the rapid growth of the industry. But with various degrees of scientific rigour underpinning the c300 products currently available in the UK and variable performance in the field, using them successfully can be somewhat hit or miss. Part of the problem is the limited fundamental research into their modes of action, says Dr Fidele Tugizimana, biochemist at the University of Johannesburg and for the Omnia Group, the biggest fertilizer producing company in South Africa. He’s working together with the University of Edinburgh on a project, jointly funded by Innovate UK/Department for International Development (DFID) and Omnia, that’s investigating the relationship of plant growth-promoting rhizobacteria (PGPR) and maize using metabolomics. Fidele Tugizimana describes the metabolome as the ‘chemical space and language of metabolism.’ Most biostimulant studies look at…
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