A RIVERINA-BASED fertiliser and soil enhancer producer business has shown it can match it on the world stage, with significant yield increases reported in recent US field trials.
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The BioAg trials examined the effect of applying the company’s yield-enhancing products to cotton, corn and soybean crops.
The addition of various programs gave statistically significant, sizeable responses compared to the fertiliser alone (standard practice), with average yield increases across the cotton (12.4 per cent), corn (22.1 per cent) and soybean crops (16,1 per cent).
These figures follow similar results from US field trials in 2013, where yield increases of 18 per cent in cotton, 27 per cent in corn and 36 per cent in soybeans were achieved.
Additional tests reducing the nitrogen application by 15 per cent on corn and cotton also had the BioAg treatment producing more yield than fertiliser alone, with 19.7 per cent in corn and up to 42.5 per cent in cotton.
The program has also been getting runs on the board in Australia, with one of its customers taking out the Macquarie Valley Cotton Top Yield award for 2014.
BioAg managing director Anton Barton said the results were encouraging.
“The main aim of obtaining further trial results was to highlight to the broader market that there are alternatives to the typical acid-based water-soluble fertilisers, which are producing excellent results without the negative side-effects,” he said.
According to John Hill, BioAg’s technical sales manager, the results hold great promise for Australian primary producers.
“These US trials were conducted in the heartland of modern agriculture and to produce such
high increases above the standard practice for that area is a real achievement and demonstrates an excellent return on investment opportunity to the grower,” he said.
The trials were conducted at Agricenter International in Memphis, Tennessee by director of research, Doctor Bruce Kirksey.
Agricenter International is a leader in agricultural field crop research.
Through its work with agribusiness, university systems, and government and non-government
organisations, it provides a professional forum for the unbiased development, evaluation, demonstration, education, and marketing of the latest and most advanced agricultural technologies and products.
Each trial was replicated four times. The results given are averages across the four replications.
The trial results were peer-reviewed by New Zealand fertiliser expert, Doctor Burt Quinn. Another set of trials is planned for the coming season.
