June 15, 2021

Agriculture

The Role of Biostimulants In Modern Agriculture

Blogs / The Role of Biostimulants In Modern Agriculture

Today, modern agriculture is playing a central role in solving some of the biggest challenges faced by humanity.

First, the world population is increasing at an alarming rate, and it is predicted to reach approximately 9 billion people by 2050.

The agriculture sector is expected to meet the growing food demand and accomplish food security goals.

Secondly, fertilizers and pesticides played a crucial role in boosting agricultural production in the past many decades.

However, there has been a growing concern regarding the negative impact of using extensive chemicals.

It includes the reduction in soil quality, environmental pollution, and health hazards to humans.

Thus, sustainable and environmentally friendly farming practices, with the help of innovative solutions, are now integral to modern agriculture.

Also, modern consumers today are more aware of how food is produced, and there is an increasing demand for safe and healthy food without any potentially toxic elements.

This is indeed a challenge for millions of farmers as crop failures and lack of food productivity have become frequent due to climate change factors like drought, flood, lack of arable lands, depleting water reserves, pollution, waste, etc.

Thus, the agriculture sector needs to embrace new solutions and approaches to increase resource use efficiency to ensure food production at the desired level.

Moreover, the latest solutions should provide profits to the farming community as well.

The use of biostimulants in modern agriculture is an environment-friendly and very promising innovation.

It acts as a soil conditioner and is known to boost plant growth and crop productivity and nutrient efficiency and improve flowering and abiotic stress tolerance.

Biostimulants in Modern Agriculture

According to the European Biostimulant Industry Council (EBIC), biostimulants are defined as “products containing substances and/or microorganisms whose function, when applied to plants or the rhizosphere, is to stimulate natural processes to improve/benefit nutrient uptake, nutrient efficiency, abiotic stress tolerance, and crop quality.”

The market for biostimulants is growing every year. According to reports, the market for active ingredient biostimulants is estimated to reach approximately 5 billion dollars by the year 2025.

Thousands of scientific studies have been published showing the benefits of using biostimulants in agriculture.

Plant biostimulants such as Plant Growth Promoter Rhizobacteria – PGPR are considered highly efficient and sustainable for agricultural productivity under optimal as well as suboptimal conditions.

Nutrient Uptake and Efficiency

The utilization of microbial inoculants can help enhance the availability of nutrient, uptake of nutrient and assimilation in soil.

It maximizes nutrient use efficiency by acting on the root system architecture and increasing macro and micro nutrient solubilization resulting in higher nutrient uptake and efficiency.

The nutrient use efficiency of elements like Nitrogen and Phosphorus is essential for environmental as well as economical reasons.

Thus, biostimulants show the properties of soil conditioners and promote plant growth.

Abiotic Stress Tolerance

Due to global climate change, abiotic stresses such as drought, salinity, extreme temperature, and nutrient deficiency are affecting agricultural output and causing yield gaps.

According to the current climate change scenario, these factors will further reduce crop productivity and ultimately put pressure on food security.

Microbial biostimulants are a promising biological mechanism to improve tolerance or resistance to unfavourable environments and soil conditions.

Produce Quality Improvement

The application of microbial plant biostimulants is capable of modifying primary and secondary metabolism in plants.

Consequently, it helps in the accumulation of anti-oxidant molecules, which is beneficial for humans.

According to studies, it improves the nutritional and functional quality of a variety of fruits and vegetables, also improving shelf-life.

Advantages of Using Biostimulants

Various advantages of biostimulants include:

Boost crop productivity and yield quality, thus increasing food production
Helps in fighting water stress and climatic factors
Improves soil quality
Causes no pollution and environment-friendly
Better quality of agricultural products, thus better for farmers
Safe, healthy, and nutritious food for the consumer
Activates natural defense mechanism in plants, thus reducing dependence on pesticides

Thus, biostimulants similar to soil conditioner, have all the properties to boost crop production, which can help in meeting the food demand of the future.

Moreover, it can help the farming community to achieve food production targets, negate the effects of unfavourable weather conditions and make profits with better and quality produce.

Also, the use of biostimulants can drastically reduce the dependence on chemical fertilizers and pesticides, and it provides a sustainable alternative to practise farming without causing environmental pollution.

Resource on Sustainable Farming:

Organica Biotech is one of the leading companies with advanced solutions for sustainable agriculture.

The microbiome enhancement technologies utilize nature and biotechnology to restore and nurture soil microbiology.

The biostimulants act as soil conditioners and help plants to secure nutrients, fend off pests, and boost crop productivity.

The Magic Gro range of products contains natural biostimulants that can be used in both organic and non-organic farming practices.

It can help modern agriculture to meet food productivity goals without harming the environment or human health.