Biostimulants

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Biostimulants and Sustainable Agriculture

Biostimulants are vital to meeting growing agricultural demand in a more sustainable manner. The focus of our industry is to develop and commercialize biostimulant products that are highly compatible with the most advanced farming techniques used in Integrated Crop Management (ICM), the cornerstone of sustainable agriculture.

Biostimulants contribute to sustainable agriculture by:

• Improving plant tolerance to abiotic stress on plants, including drought, extreme temperatures (cold, frost, and heat), and salinity
• Enhancing uptake and efficient use of nutrients, both applied and existing
• Improving soil health by enhancing beneficial soil microorganisms
• Enhancing crop quality through plant health and vigor
• Increasing harvestable yields

What Products are Included in “Plant Biostimulants”?

Like the general definition of plant biostimulants, the definition of the major categories of products that make up the class remains a work in progress. Efforts have been made to describe the principal categories, including scientific journal articles by Yakhin et al (2017)¹, du Jardin (2015)², Halpern et al (2015)³, Calvo et al (2014)⁴ and du Jardin (2012)⁵. As industry and regulators work toward an agreed-upon definition for plant biostimulants, we can expect to see increased clarity on the materials (or substances) that comprise the categories of biostimulant products.

The “product landscape” in Figure 1, below, reflects the rich array of substances that are discussed in the literature. It includes the major categories discussed below, as well as other examples such as inorganic salts, other beneficial elements (beyond the traditional plant nutrients), vitamins, fatty acids, and other organic compounds.

Figure 1. Click on a Category to Learn More.

Plant Biostimulant Categories

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Acid-Based Biostimulants

Humic substances, which include humic and fulvic acids, are among the most common organic substances on earth, making up much of the organic matter in the world’s soils. Humic and fulvic acids are complex organic molecules of diverse structure and composition that form in the soil as byproducts of the decomposition and microbial metabolism of plant and animal residues.  While the materials can vary quite dramatically in molecular structure and weight, humic substances have been recognized and used for decades to improve soil structure and function (e.g., chelate nutrients and improve cation exchange capacity, or CEC), enhance plant nutrition, and contribute to improved crop yield and quality. They can be applied in various ways, including direct application to the soil, foliar application, incorporation into fertilizer and other products, and through irrigation water.

Amino acid products (along with other protein-derived biostimulants, based on peptides or protein hydrolysates) can be derived from the chemical or enzymatic hydrolysis of animal, plant, or microbial protein. The protein sources are often recycled waste products of agricultural crop residues or animal processing such as collagen, epithelial tissue, crustacean shells and other materials. Recycling these otherwise waste substances into useful agricultural products is a unique environmental benefit of protein-derived biostimulants. There is strong evidence for a variety of benefits, including improved soil fertility, better plant health and vigor, enhanced crop yields and quality, and improved stress tolerance.

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Seaweed and Plant Extracts

The use of seaweed in agriculture dates to ancient times, when it was often used to improve fertility by augmenting soil organic content. Seaweed extracts, also referred to as kelp or sea kelp extracts, have been used in modern agriculture as more concentrated means to deliver benefits to soils and plants. They have been shown to improve soil properties (to improve soil structure, water retention, and aeration), as well as helping to fix or chelate nutrients and improve CEC. Seaweed extracts have also been shown to aid in the functioning of beneficial soil microorganisms, and to improve the provisioning, uptake, and utilization of plant nutrients. An impressive body of research is aimed at understanding how complex extracts and many of the constituent compounds derived from them can stimulate, elicit, or augment the healthy growth of beneficial plants. Improved stress tolerance effects have also been broadly reported.

Plant extracts (or “botanicals”) are perhaps less well studied, but represent a fast growing category of biostimulant materials. The use of allelochemicals — active plant compounds that can be extracted and concentrated — is an especially active area of both industry and academic investigation.

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Microbial Biostimulants

Beneficial fungi and bacteria represent the core of the focus within the smaller but rapidly growing category of microbial biostimulants. A wide variety of microbial products are sold as biofertilizers, plant inoculants (to aid primarily in nutrient processing), soil amendments, and other beneficial additives. Microbial products can include “pure strain” fermentation solutions, based on individual isolates; consortia of admixed or co-fermented isolates; or much more complex “natural” communities derived from organic matter processing. Microbial products have been shown to enhance plant growth through various direct and indirect mechanisms; and to help with nutrient availability and uptake, improving soil condition, helping plants tolerate abiotic stress, and enhancing overall crop quality attributes.