Biostimulent / biostimulatori / biostimulatoare: (Substanță) care stimulează asimilația și dezvoltarea, sporind imunitatea organismului; biostimulent (DEX); un material care, după ce este aplicat pe plante, sol, semințe sau mediu de cultură, alături de un plan de fertilizare a culturii, îmbunătățește eficiența consumului de nutrienți de către plantă sau produce beneficii directe ori indirecte în dezvoltarea sau în adaptarea la stres a plantei (EBIC).
Textul newsletter-ului ALECAIA continuă în limba engleză:
Alecaia’s newsletters are intended to present new (digital) technologies and other innovations applicable in Agriculture and adjacent businesses and inform about its projects.
European Biostimulants Industry Council (EBIC) Definition of Biostimulant – “A material that, when applied to a plant, seed, soil or growing media – in conjunction with established fertilization plans, enhances the plant’s nutrient use efficiency, or provides other direct or indirect benefits to plant development or stress response.”
According to IFA plant biostimulants are an important tool for sustainable agriculture due to their ability to enhance tolerance to abiotic stress, nutrient use efficiency, crop performance and quality. They are complementary to mineral fertilizers by improving their effect through the improved availability, assimilations, translocation and use of plant nutrients to the plants. Plant biostimulation is thus part of the 4R nutrient stewardship toolbox available to farmers.
How do plant biostimulants work?
Some very important factors differentiate plant biostimulants from traditional fertilizers and other inputs. Plant biostimulants are often derived from biological materials and include seaweed and other algae, higher plants, microbial preparations, animal raw materials, humates (combination of organic substances created as a result of the decomposition of plant and animal tissues that have been compressed over millions of years in the earth’s soil), composts, wastes, and by-products.
They are in most cases complex mixtures of numerous substances and their effect on crops is mainly due to this complexity and synergistic interactions rather than of the action of one individual compound. They can influence the physiological functions of various plant organs, including roots, stems, leaves, flowers, and fruits, but their specific mode of action is often not well understood scientifically.
In recent years, agronomic research in this domain has increased dramatically to better understand such questions. Plant biostimulants can enhance physiological plant functions such as increased uptake and transport of nutrients and improved root growth.
They can foster plant growth and development throughout the crop life cycle from seed germination to plant maturity in several ways:
• Improving the efficiency of the plant’s metabolism to induce yield increases and enhanced crop quality
• Increasing plant tolerance to and recovery from abiotic stress, which is the negative impact of non-living factors on living organisms in a specific environment such as drought, salinity, low or high temperatures etc.
Abiotic stresses, especially hypersalinity and drought, are the primary causes of crop loss worldwide
• Facilitating nutrient assimilation, translocation, and use
• Enhancing quality attributes of produce, including sugar content, colour, fruit seeding, etc.
• Improving water use efficiency
These products can also have a beneficial influence on the direct environment surrounding the plants, for example, by improving a plant’s rhizosphere (soil that surrounds and is influenced by the roots of a plant), which can provide a better environment for symbiotic relationships with beneficial microorganisms in the soil or enriching the soil microbiome through the addition of microbial biostimulants.
In 2019 the market was USD 2.5 billion and it is expected to grow to over USD 5 billion by 2027 highlighting the increasing incidence of abiotic stress and the surge in demand for organic food products across the globe.
In case of interest, questions or comments, please reach out.