European seed coating specialists Germains has announced an agreement with Plantworks Ltd in the UK to extend its two year research programme which focuses on coating sugar beet with the company’s proprietary Smart Rotations consortia of PGPR.
The extnesion will see Germains undertake additional field trials in both the UK and Europe to validate both yield effects and soil health benefits.
We have successfully addressed the issues of coating sugar beet with live bacteria to produce a stable coating that both protects the bacteria and promotes its release into the soil at time of planting,” said Richard Nicholls, commercial manager of EU Sugar Beet at Germains.
“Our science group have undertaken work to confirm no inhibitory effects in terms of germination and emergence and have quantified encouraging yield affects that underpin our investment in additional trials in both the UK and Europe. Subject to successful replication and validation we would seek to offer this technology as a coating option to the market within three years,
“In an environment where many of the treatments we have traditionally relied upon to support sugar beet production are increasingly restricted, it is right that Germains extends its programme of work into the use of biologicals in support of improved yield, plant and soil health.”
The option agreement will cover a two year program of work by Germains with collaboration between both its UK and Dutch technical offices.
