Nitrogen fixing bacteria.

[Simon Chiles]

With the recent escalation of Nitrogen prices it has occurred to me that growers are going to consider alternative sources of N. Having been involved with some initial work on N fixing bacteria I thought it might be useful to have a thread on here so that farmers can ask questions about some of the trial work that has been so that they can make some informed decisions. Having discussed this with @Chris F we have invited Natallia from Plantworks to join the forum and participate in the discussion. If you have any questions you’d like to ask please post them here and hopefully she’ll be able to answer them.

 

[alomy75]

Crops used have been WW groups 1-4, spring barley and spring red wheat.
Trial plots have ranged between 1-10ha.
SR3 has been applied using Fert nozzles with 200l/ha of water.
Growth stage of crop at application GS12-25.
Soil conditions at application bone dry - sloppy.
Fert used liquid N35+7so3 and solid 25.5.5 as starter in spring crops.
Trial Fert reductions between 10-50%.
No change in any pesticide programs.
Yields have shown an uplift v control.

The last sentence is intriguing. Unless by ‘control’ you mean, say 50% less N and the treatments are 50% less N plus SR3? Or is your ‘control’ a 100% N application?

 

[Cambsfarm]

Control has been farm standard practice, 100%N no SR3.

 

[alomy75]

Control has been farm standard practice, 100%N no SR3.

If that’s the case and you can get MORE yield using 50% less N by applying a £19/ha application of SR3 then you have just found a gold mine. Forget the field scale tramline trials, do some proper independent small plot replicated work to prove it and then take swimming lessons for all the money that will come flooding in

 

[Cambsfarm]

If that’s the case and you can get MORE yield using 50% less N by applying a £19/ha application of SR3 then you have just found a gold mine. Forget the field scale tramline trials, do some proper independent small plot replicated work to prove it and then take swimming lessons for all the money that will come flooding in

Thats a bold assumption you've made from what I have written. As for independent small plot work you will see earlier in the thread that NIAB and others are already onboard.

 

[alomy75]

The product is commercially available to the farmers through their preferred agronomy suppliers or directly from us at £19/ha, supplied in 5ha units,

Trial Fert reductions between 10-50%.
No change in any pesticide programs.
Yields have shown an uplift v control.

I’m not being obnoxious; just quoting what yourself and Natallia have written already I’m genuinely interested

 

[matttargett4]

I’m not being obnoxious; just quoting what yourself and Natallia have written already I’m genuinely interested

Me too, although I’m no going to ask for further guarantees, I’m just going to try it and make my own mind up, n price is a joke, I have zero committed and the spend will be 100k plus, we have to break the addiction so a few ha at £19 is the least I should be doing

 

[Cambsfarm]

I’m not being obnoxious; just quoting what yourself and Natallia have written already I’m genuinely interested

Just a miss quote then! If you substitute yield for margin your getting somewhere.

 

[alomy75]

Just a miss quote then! If you substitute yield for margin your getting somewhere.

Then why write yield? Crikey this is getting like dragons den now Keep up the good work anyway; we need something like this to make the job worthwhile

 

[alomy75]

Just a miss quote then! If you substitute yield for margin your getting somewhere.

This is off your website (and possibly should have been the starting point of this thread!) so there indeed is a yield benefit down to 70%N which is great; are these the NIAB trials of which you speak? I note there’s no acknowledgement Another 1.65t on a 10t crop for a £19 application with wheat at £200/t is certainly worth looking into… do we know the 100% N application rate? I’m assuming at 5t/ha it’s not winter wheat…

 

[Natallia @PlantWorks]

Presumably you apply it in the autumn?

Just to take up the question posed above - all winter crops planted in 2021 can be treated with nitrogen-fixing bacteria in spring 2022. There will be much pressure on farmers both in sourcing nitrogen in 2022 and then affording to apply at their traditional application rates. We are now reserving production slots from farmers for spring 2022 to ensure we have sufficient stocks in manufacture to support the market. If members of this community are looking to mitigate their nitrogen use next year, I would be pleased to discuss this with you and reserve stocks for you whilst we can do this.

 

[Natallia @PlantWorks]

I just uploaded the results on spring wheat, which are slightly different to winter wheat. The highest yield was achieved in the condition where 100% N was applied. However, conditions where N was reduced still yielded higher than control (100% without SR3) https://thefarmingforum.co.uk/index...t-of-nitrogen-inputs-on-your-spring-wheat.64/

 

[Luke Cropwalker]

Thats a bold assumption you've made from what I have written. As for independent small plot work you will see earlier in the thread that NIAB and others are already onboard.

Please define 'onboard' does that mean NIAB are recommending this type of product or are they carrying out trials?

 

[Natallia @PlantWorks]

This thread has had so much interest I felt it would be useful to create this Q&A list for the most common queries we get. Nitrogen shortage is such a hot topic, so this may help farmers understand more about SR3 active biology and how it can help using N fertiliser more efficiently.

 

[alomy75]

Can you share the trials data from the independent companies that you mention? If you look to the fungicide industry the proper data comes first and then farmers can do their own tramline trials to see if these results replicate on their own land.

 

[Gong Farmer]

Please define 'onboard' does that mean NIAB are recommending this type of product or are they carrying out trials?

Yes they are carrying out/have carried out trials

No they are not recommending it yet.

 

[Natallia @PlantWorks]

Can you share the trials data from the independent companies that you mention? If you look to the fungicide industry the proper data comes first and then farmers can do their own tramline trials to see if these results replicate on their own land.

In 2020 PlantWorks undertook a number of trials to see if bacteria could help farmers reduce N inputs. In parallel, NIAB also ran similar experiments. Unfortunately, I cannot share NIAB’s results, as they are only available for NIAB TAG members, but I can confirm they correlate with our data; all conditions that received SR3 treatment yielded higher than control regardless N inputs. Other trials that have been undertaken with industrial partners including ProCam, Agrovista, BBRO, Field Option with Harper Adams etc explored the value of SR3 in relation to factors such as yield and quality. If you have connections with these companies through your agronomists, please request these trial data directly as we are not at liberty to share them on this forum.

 

[N.Yorks.]

This thread has had so much interest I felt it would be useful to create this Q&A list for the most common queries we get. Nitrogen shortage is such a hot topic, so this may help farmers understand more about SR3 active biology and how it can help using N fertiliser more efficiently.

Hi Natallia.

What are the bacteria called (binomial name) that form the typical product for wheat for example?

How do they fix N, is it atmospheric N gas that is fixed or N present already within the soil from fert/manure/organic matter?

If you were to slot your bacteria into a classic description of N cycles within a general soil, where do your bacteria fit in to that?

What is the number of bacteria that will be typically applied from a field application of your product?

Thanks.

 

[Simon Chiles]

What are the bacteria called (binomial name) that form the typical product for wheat for example?

Nice try! I think you’ll find that Plantworks have spent millions on the research to find out which N fixing bacteria benefit each individual crop. They’re hardly likely to be giving out all that commercially sensitive information out on a public forum to the competition.

 

[N.Yorks.]

Nice try! I think you’ll find that Plantworks have spent millions on the research to find out which N fixing bacteria benefit each individual crop. They’re hardly likely to be giving out all that commercially sensitive information out on a public forum to the competition.

What I was trying to find out was whether or not the bacteria they are selling is already in the soil, which it probably is!!

I suppose if I was a competitor it would just be a simple case of getting hold of the product and looking down the microscope at it as well as microbiological analysis....... simple. So why not be transparent about what the product is?

There are significant microbial communities in topsoil and I'm trying to get my head around what the wider effects might be on the bacterial communities already existing. As we know if you introduce an additional organism into an ecosystem it can change the balance found there.

I'm really interested to know if these product bacteria fix N gas from the atmosphere or just transform N already present there in whatever?

 

[N.Yorks.]

Nice try! I think you’ll find that Plantworks have spent millions on the research to find out which N fixing bacteria benefit each individual crop. They’re hardly likely to be giving out all that commercially sensitive information out on a public forum to the competition.

Just searched up online Britannica: https://www.britannica.com/science/nitrogen-fixing-bacteria

This is what they said:

"nitrogen-fixing bacteria, microorganisms capable of transforming atmospheric nitrogen into fixed nitrogen (inorganic compounds usable by plants). More than 90 percent of all nitrogen fixation is effected by these organisms, which thus play an important role in the nitrogen cycle.

Two kinds of nitrogen-fixing bacteria are recognized. The first kind, the free-living (nonsymbiotic) bacteria, includes the cyanobacteria (or blue-green algae) Anabaena and Nostoc and genera such as Azotobacter, Beijerinckia, and Clostridium. The second kind comprises the mutualistic (symbiotic) bacteria; examples include Rhizobium, associated with leguminous plants (e.g., various members of the pea family); Frankia, associated with certain dicotyledonous species (actinorhizal plants); and certain Azospirillum species, associated with cereal grasses.

The symbiotic nitrogen-fixing bacteria invade the root hairs of host plants, where they multiply and stimulate formation of root nodules, enlargements of plant cells and bacteria in intimate association. Within the nodules the bacteria convert free nitrogen to ammonia, which the host plant utilizes for its development. To ensure sufficient nodule formation and optimum growth of legumes (e.g., alfalfa, beans, clovers, peas, soybeans), seeds are usually inoculated with commercial cultures of appropriate Rhizobium species, especially in soils poor or lacking in the required bacterium."


So next thought is what are Azospirillum, so found this paper link: https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s00374-020-01463-y see highlights below:

"Everything you must know about Azospirillum and its impact on agriculture and beyond​

Abstract​

Azospirillum is one of the most studied plant growth-promoting bacteria (PGPB); it represents a common model for plant-bacterial interactions. While Azospirillum brasilense is the species that is most widely known, at least 22 species, including 17 firmly validated species, have been identified, isolated from agricultural soils as well as habitats as diverse as contaminated soils, fermented products, sulfide springs, and microbial fuel cells. Over the last 40 years, studies on Azospirillum-plant interactions have introduced a wide array of mechanisms to demonstrate the beneficial impacts of this bacterium on plant growth. Multiple phytohormones, plant regulators, nitrogen fixation, phosphate solubilization, a variety of small-sized molecules and enzymes, enhanced membrane activity, proliferation of the root system, enhanced water and mineral uptake, mitigation of environmental stressors, and competition against pathogens have been studied, leading to the concept of the Multiple Mechanisms Hypothesis. This hypothesis is based on the assumption that no single mechanism is involved in the promotion of plant growth; it posits that each case of inoculation entails a combination of a few or many mechanisms. Looking specifically at the vast amount of information about the stimulatory effect of phytohormones on root development and biological nitrogen fixation, the Efficient Nutrients Acquisition Hypothesis model is proposed. Due to the existence of extensive agriculture that covers an area of more than 60 million hectares of crops, such as soybeans, corn, and wheat, for which the bacterium has proven to have some agronomic efficiency, the commercial use of Azospirillum is widespread in South America, with over 100 products already in the market in Argentina, Brazil, and Uruguay. Studies on Azospirillum inoculation in several crops have shown positive and variable results, due in part to crop management practices and environmental conditions. The combined inoculation of legumes with rhizobia and Azospirillum (co-inoculation) has become an emerging agriculture practice in the last several years, mainly for soybeans, showing high reproducibility and efficiency under field conditions. This review also addresses the use of Azospirillum for purposes other than agriculture, such as the recovery of eroded soils or the bioremediation of contaminated soils. Furthermore, the synthetic mutualistic interaction of Azospirillum with green microalgae has been developed as a new and promising biotechnological application, extending its use beyond agriculture."