Additive boosts potato output
Additive boosts potato output
A NEW product to help fertiliser work harder gave potato yield increases averaging 12t/ha (4.9t/acre) over four sites last year, according to supplier Omex.
Root Boost contains plant growth hormones encapsulated in oil for use with suspension fertilisers for root crops and vegetables. "It is a mixture of cytokinins, giberellins and auxins," says the firms Andy Eccles.
"We have tried using these hormones on their own in the past but they did nothing because they were gobbled up and metabolised by soil bacteria before they could work."
The firms new coating process allows the root stimulants to be released slowly as the oil layer degrades on contact with the soil, he explains. The theory is that the larger resulting root system uses nutrients from both soil and suspension fertiliser better.
"We are also trying the same technique with manganese to reduce the number of passes required to correct deficiencies and avoid soil lock-up."
In the companys trials from Suffolk to Lincs last year adding Root Boost to a standard fertiliser programme lifted yields of Maris Piper at one site by 28% to 68t/ha (27.5t/acre), he notes.
But on a late-planted site without irrigation the increase to the same variety was only 15% to 30.4t/ha (12.3t/acre).
Cost of the recommended 5 litres/ha treatment is £30. *