Trials confirm crop microbial benefits
Pictured on the left shows a greener wheat crop in an area that received the BiOWiSH biological amendment mixed with UAN at seeding, compared with where no BiOWiSH was applied on the right.
Promising crop results with a microbial product applied to liquid and granular compound fertilizers at seeding are being further assessed in wider, farm-scale trials with growers this season.
Summit Fertilizers commenced trials with the BiOWiSH biological amendment in 2024 and has been encouraged by its early success.
BiOWiSH comprises bacillus microbes in a powdered form that can be easily mixed with UAN liquid fertilizer on-farm or coated on granular MAP and NPK fertilizers prior to their collection, and it can be safely applied with other treatments such as flutriafol fungicide.
The microbes populate around plant roots, consume soil nutrients, enter the roots, the nutrients are then extracted by the plants, the depleted microbes then exit the roots and the cycle continues as part of a symbiotic relationship. The bacteria also stimulate plant exudates, which effectively enhance beneficial biology in the root zone.
Summit Fertilizers Esperance Area Manager Nick Donkin, who has been involved in various BiOWiSH trials with growers, said placement of the microbes near the seed was preferred, so this needed to be considered with fertilizer applications, particularly of UAN, which can be banded deeper in soil profiles.
Across 13 trials in 2024 comparing BiOWiSH with district practice in various crops in a number of areas, a yield response of 7.7 per cent was achieved and there were protein increases in every wheat trial.
Greener wheat plants from the BiOWiSH and UAN mix applied at seeding on the left, compared with plants that received UAN only on the right.
Further trials with growers last year, where BiOWiSH was applied at about 300 grams per hectare over 65ha on each occasion, reinforced the encouraging results.
“The BiOWiSH comes in two forms to suit either application on granular fertiliser or with UAN, and many growers just added it to their liquid tank,” Nick said.
He said plant tissue testing indicated improved plant nutrient uptake, while crop responses and grain protein gains were again recorded.
“With one grower who farms quite intensively at Mt Ney near Esperance, we couldn’t see much of a difference between the BiOWiSH area and his crop through the season, but then there was a dry spell and we noticed a big difference in the crop. It was on medium loam over clay soil and where the BiOWiSH was used, the root systems were also a lot better.”
“The crop then finished well and at harvest, the hectolitre weight of the grain from the BiOWiSH area was better and it went into a higher quality grade at the bin. This earned an extra $100/ha for that portion of the crop.
“The grower also kept grain from the area as retained seed for this year’s crop – and he has now got BiOWiSH on order for this season.”
Nick Donkin, Esperance Area Manager with Summit Fertilizers, says farm-scale trials comparing the BiOWiSH biological amendment added to UAN against district practice are being assessed again this year. He says in previous years, BiOWiSH-treated areas have shown improved plant nutrient uptake, as well as good crop responses and grain protein gains.
Due to the symbiotic relationship BiOWiSH forms with crop roots, WA’s hot and dry summers do not allow residual biology carryover and, hence, applications are required each season.
Nick said trials comparing district practice to 65ha areas of BiOWiSH added to UAN were being coordinated with a number of growers this season, with satellite gauge technology used to monitor the areas and NDVI, plant tissue test and yield map results collected and analysed by Data Farming.
