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NITROGEN FIXING TREE ASSOCIATION
 
PO box 680   Waimanalo, Hawaii
96795, U.S.A.

 
Nitrogen Fixing Tree Research Reports
Volume 8

 
USA
Berlyn, Graeme P. and Ricardo 0. Russo. Yale University, School of Forestry and Environmental Studies, New Haven, Connecticut 06511, USA.

 
THE USE OF ORGANIC BIOSTIMULANTS IN NITROGEN FIXING TREES
Introduction. World demand for agricultural products, especially food, is such that new insights and techniques are required to achieve sufficient and sustainable yields to meet global food demand and prevent world hunger. The traditional chemical fertilizers have been studied for almost 200 hundred years. it is unlikely that dramatically better chemical fertilizers can be constructed. However, if we are to provide food, fiber, shelter, and fuelwood for the world’s burgeoning population, methods of increasing fertilizer efficiency must be investigated.One approach is the development of nonpolluting organic biostimulants (OB) that increase
plant growth and vigor through increased efficiency of nutrient and water uptake. Definitions for biostimulants vary greatly and there is still some arguments surrounding these compounds.
However, they are loosely defined as nonfertilizer products which have a beneficial effect on plant growth. Many of these biostimulant materials are natural products that contain no added chemicals or synthetic plant growth regulators.
The initial empirical image of these compounds is changing. Major scientific research at universities such as Clemson, Fairfield, Mississippi State, Virginia Polytechnic Institute, and Yale is demonstrating that under certain conditions biostimulants work well and open significant production possibilities in sustainable agriculture. Biostiinulants are also being used increasingly in horticulture and silviculture.
The organic biostimulant. In our research we have developed, in cooperation with Soilizer Corporation, 25 Science Park, New Haven, CT, a new biostimulant (Roots-~) that consists of a mix of humic acids, marine algae extracts, a nonhormonal reductant plant metabolite, and B vitamins. This blend greatly increases root and top growth of plants while decreasing fertilizer requirements up to 50% in a number of tested species (coffee, several grass species, pines, Douglas fir, alder, gliricidia).
The biostimulant also increases resistance to stresses such as low soil water potential and possibly residual herbicides in soil (Berlyn and Beck 1980, Berlyn and Russo 1990). The effect of the individual components of the biostimulant to promote plant growth have been studied by many researchers (Booth 1966, Senn and Kingman 1973, Hernando 1968, Berlyn and Beck 1980, Metting 1985, Oertli 1987), but the innovation of mixing them and capitalizing on their synergistic effects is a real contribution in terms of agricultural production.
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