What Can Inoculants Do For You?

When it comes to preventing disease and promoting growth in your plants, who couldn’t use a helping hand? By forming a beautiful friendship with your plants, inoculants work to get those jobs done, according to an article on SouthernStates.com.

What Are inoculants?

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Use inoculants to maximize corn yields. While we often think of bacteria, fungi or other soil microbes as unsavory characters, many types of these life forms can help us out. Some form relationships with plant roots, encouraging them to grow and making water and important nutrients more available to the plant. Others live in the soil, breaking down nutrients like phosphorous, so plants more easily can absorb them into their systems. Others still attack plant pests before they become harmful.

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Inoculants are specially formulated organism combinations tailored for each type of crop. Inoculants can be applied to seeds or sprayed on the ground, depending on the type of inoculant. By “inoculating,” or treating seed or soil with these organisms, the soil environment and crops are both improved. This leads to stronger plants and increased yield.
Inoculants are effective in treating many plant problems:

  • Biofertilizers are one type of inoculants that increases plant growth. Some bacterial inoculants, called rhizobacterial inoculants, can enhance the availability of nutrients like nitrogen and phosphorous. Other types of bacteria form symbiotic relationships with roots, increasing nitrogen nutrition, plant growth and grain yield. Some bacteria break down soil nutrients to simpler forms for easier plant uptake.
  • Biopesticides colonize around the plant and help suppress harmful organisms by killing them or consuming their food resources to starve them. Many bacteria, fungi and nematodes make great biopesticides.
  • Another type of inoculant stimulates plants’ defenses to pests and pathogens, making it harder for these to attack the plants.

Read the full story on SouthernStates.com.

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