Vegetal nutrition. Biostimulants and plants.
Traditionally, to obtain better harvests, only fertilizers that provided nutrients to the plants were used. However, in recent years, the use of biostimulants as a complement to fertilizers has become increasingly important, in order to obtain better crops and, therefore, increase crop productivity.
What are biostimulants?
Biostimulants are substances and/or microorganisms that are used as a supplement to nutrition, improving the absorption mechanisms of nutrients and the efficiency of fertilizers, obtaining higher crop yields and better harvest quality. Through the use of biostimulants, it is also possible to improve the properties of the soil, favoring the formation of the microbiota, which promotes plant growth.
Another of the great benefits offered by the use of biostimulants in plant nutrition is that they favor tolerance against abiotic stress (environmental factors: drought, frost, excess heat, pests, etc.) and biotic stress (fungi, bacteria, etc.), which negatively influence the plants development.
Depending on the results to be obtained, the application must be radicular (in the roots) or foliar (in the leaves). Its application will be roots via if what is intended to stimulate are the roots. In the event that you want to enhance flowering and fruit formation, the application will be foliar.
Amino acids as biostimulants.
Of the large number of biostimulants that are known today, one of the most used are those based on amino acids (AA), organic molecules that are obtained from the breakdown of proteins into a smaller structures. Amino acids are “energy agents” that are very well assimilated by the plant. They directly affect their growth and development as they participate in many fundamental reactions in plants. Of the variety of amino acids that exist, only L-amino acids and and those that are not tied to any other (known as “free amino acids”), positively influence plant metabolism, since they are the ones that are part of the proteins that vegetables eat.
Combining biostimulants together with fertilizers will achieve higher quality and productivity in crops!
