Understanding Biologicals - View Presentation

Farmers are experimenting with biological to enhance crop performance. Dr. Connor Sible,University of Illinois  estimated that by 2032, farmers will spend $32 billion/year on biological products. Currently, biologicals enhanced seed growth (25%), fertility (25%), pest management (25% on insect, disease, weed control) and another 25% are specialty products. What are biologicals? Many are plant growth regulators or hormones. Bio-stimulates are not alive but come from living organisms and are easier to manage and control. Third are living beneficial microbes which are more difficult to manage and control. Living organisms are affected by moisture, temperature, and exposure to other environmental conditions (sunlight, oxygen levels, etc.). Dr. Sible breaks down biologicals into 8 major groups. Starting with living microbes, he lists nitrogen (N) fixing bacteria, phosphorus (P) solubilizing bacteria, residue decomposers (bacteria and fungi), and beneficial fungi (arbuscular mycorrhizae ...

  Biologicals may be the next revolution in farming. Biologicals are natural products, either living or chemical by-products, that benefit crop production. Chemical by-products include minerals, organic materials, and plant extracts. Many snake oil type products exist on the market and it is difficult to separate out good products from bad. Dr. Jane Fife, 3 Bar Biologics outlined the use of biologics at the Conservation Tillage Conference. A number of bio-stimulants and bio-fertilizers decrease many environmental stresses like drought, high or low temperatures, and soils with high salts. Many products also improve the plant’s ability to recycle soil nutrients and speed up biological processes. The problem with many biologicals is that they are not highly regulated yet but bioinsecticides are regulated. A common example is Bt (Bacillus thuringiensis) which is a registered and regulated bioinsecticide. Other substances can be living or nonliving and have been harder to regulate. Most...

  Biologicals are simply live microbes that perform many important soil and plant functions. Some microbes are biofertilizers (microbes that improve plant nutrition); biopesticides (microbes that control or kill pathogens, insects, other pests); others produce plant growth hormones or help plants survive environmental stresses (drought, temperature, soil pH, wet soils) etc. Biologicals are starting to become more common as farmers learn how to take advantage of the benefits they supply, especially in healthy soils and plants. Farmers have inoculated legumes and clovers with bacteria to fix nitrogen (N) in nodules. Now farmers can inoculate plants for bacteria that are free living and also supply N to all plants. There are at least 200 strains of bacteria that are known to live inside plants and around plant roots. With the new discovery of rhizophagy (plant roots eating bacteria for nutrients and growth), applying biologicals may soon be a common practice. Corn (C), Soybeans (S) an...