As always, the aim of the Congress was to disseminate the latest understanding on biostimulants, combining scientific and agronomic research with commercial aspects, such as strategies for product development, new uses and case studies, and the latest regulatory developments. And as always, the scientific committee had the difficult task of assessing the abstract submissions, around 300 in total. Before the event, one of the members of the scientific committee Marciel J Stadnik, Professor at Federal University of Santa Catarina, Florianópolis (UFSC) told New AG International: “I am particularly keen to hear about cutting-edge technologies allowing the use of single and multicomponent biostimulants on crop plants in different environments, and to learn new insights about the underlying molecular and physiological mechanisms triggered by them to mitigate different types of abiotic stresses.”
The PDF of selected abstracts is now available for download from the digital delegate bag in the ConnectMe app.
First full day The Congress began with the first plenary keynote session on Tuesday 30 November, and opening remarks were made by Professor Patrick Brown, University of California, Davis and co-chair of the scientific committee. Professor Brown made the point that research is now moving on from core materials to functional moieties and how to optimise them. He noted that microbial biostimulants were currently a growth sector, particularly in the areas of synthetic production. He presented a graph with an upward trajectory showing the rise in published scientific papers related to biostimulants. Professor Brown concluded by drawing the link between the two elements of the conference – the scientific and the business development side. Products need good R&D, he noted, and there needs to be a discrimination between products. He concluded with an observation echoed several times during proceedings that food producers and retailers are demanding greener products and this represents an opportunity for biostimulants. Following his opening remarks, the stage was set for Sylvie Brouder, Professor of Agronomy, Purdue University. The title of Professor Brouder’s presentation was ‘Plant nutrition and Climate Change’. During her presentation she mentioned ‘intellectual honesty’. She offered as a take-home message on the nutrient balance in soils and the possible impact from changes in climate: “We have an understanding of the mass-balance approach. It’s harder to estimate for different climates, and we haven’t been able to do it that well thus far.” This will be the challenge for the future, she warned, particularly when estimating residue levels of N and P.
Professor Patrick Brown, University of California, Davis
Hypoxia, by itself, it is a very understudied stress, the biostimulant testing in waterlogged plants is somewhat new...
Then, from the Austrian Institute of Technology, we heard from the Head of the Bioresources Unit Angela Sessitsch, who spoke on ‘Biostimulants the microbiome and soil health.’ She presented a slide showing her group’s work on trying to find which microbials are important for seeds, and what are the functions of microorganisms on seeds. Answers to these questions are being used to create products that use seeds as a vector for microbial application to soils. To follow was the Chief Scientific Officer of Biome Makers Alberto Acedo with a keynote ‘Soil Microbial Composition allows assessment of Biological Product Effectiveness and Crop Yield Prediction’. Biome Makers specializes in the analysis of the soil microbiome and the determination of the functions of the microbial communities that reside there. The company uses its Gheom technology, based on computer-based next-generation DNA sequencing (NGS), to contribute to advances in the microbial characterization of agricultural biomes.
Science track The first presentation of the scientific session was given by Ernesto Alejandro Zavala, Head Researcher of the Spanish company Atlántica Agricola, and entitled ‘The accelerated flowering in tomato and Arabidopsis by the nematophagous fungus Pochonia chlamydosporia and its relation with jasmonate signaling.’ The fungal parasite of nematode eggs P. chlamydosporia is also a root endophyte known to promote growth of some plants such as barley and tomato. This study demonstrates that P. chlamydosporia colonizes A. thaliana, according to the paper’s abstract.
Also in the scientific session was Jamal Javanmardi, Assistant Professor, California State University – Chico, who posed a question in the title of his presentation ‘Worm compost tea’s plant growth-promoting power, is it the micro-organisms or chemical properties?’ As we moved into the afternoon, there was a remote presentation from Professor Giuseppe Colla, University of Tuscia. He presented on ‘Protein hydrolysates as potential biostimulant in vegetables: elucidating their mechanism and optimizing their effectiveness through a translational research approach.’
Professor Colla made the point during presentation that protein hydrolysates are often used in animal feeds, and around 20% of overall consumption is in agriculture. The effects of protein hydrolysates is due to is composition of peptides and amino acids. Professor Colla noted that typically products using protein hydrolysates are low dosages – namely a few litres per hectares. This session also looked at techniques to find new microbial strains for biostimulants. Microbials research specialist from Valagro, Ilaria Lebano, elaborated on “Use of Maldi-TOF mass spectrometry and statistical tools as an integrated strategy for strains identification in microbial biostimulants.” Moving to modes of action, Clara Piccinini, a PhD student at Queens University Belfast presented on
M.Sc. Clara Piccinini, Ph.D student from Queen’s University of Belfast, UK, sponsored by Tradecorp, joined an oral presentation entitled “Biostimulant mode of action in plant growth and gene regulation against hypoxia effects”, supported by Tradecorp R&D experts.
Very briefly, what was your presentation about? This presentation covered biostimulants' effects on plants submitted to hypoxia - abiotic stress described as the drop in oxygen levels caused by flooding, heavy rain or poor soil drainage. As part of my PhD, I'm testing biostimulants' effects on hypoxic plants to check their performances at different levels (plant growth, biochemistry, gene expression). What were the key take-aways? Some biostimulants showed very good results, enhancing plants coping mechanisms both at phenotypical and genetic levels, even for plants submitted to severe stress. Hypoxia, by itself, it is a very understudied stress, the biostimulant testing in waterlogged plants is somewhat new, so the good results we got are a very exciting outcome. What was one thing you learned or found of interest from the BSWC? I'm very surprised about how dynamic this event can be, both from the science perspective and the innovation view. As a scientist in the making, I always focus on following the science track, and it makes me really happy how researchers have a strong presence in a place like this. I feel like it's an important opportunity to create a communication channel between science and business. Read more on Clara Piccinini’s research in New AG International Magazine March 2020.
‘Biostimulants mode of action in plant growth and gene regulation against hypoxia effects.’
Then we heard from Guilherme Oliveira, project coordinator, Lallemand Plant Care, ‘First robust field trial tool adapted to evaluate the agronomic value of biostimulants.’ “The aim of this work was to develop a new, robust field trial method based on geostatistics to evaluate the efficacy of biostimulant treatments at the farmer scale,” stated the abstract. ‘Evaluation of biostimulants for plant stress tolerance – overcoming challenges for an objective assessment in field trials,’ was the title of another presentation in the session by Ignacio Colonna, AgriThority, Global Director, Science and Technology.
“The presentation was about testing biostimulant products for stress, mainly drought and heat stress. I manage products in LATAM and in South America heat and drought stress are a big thing in agriculture,” Colonna told New AG International after the presentation. “One take-away is make sure you budget your testing correctly. Testing for biostimulants under stress is much more expensive than testing under environmental hyperactivity – results are more noisy and data can be lost. Plan correctly, don’t under budget. “Second point is to make sure you understand the performance of your product across environments correctly. Stress comes in all different colours. It’s not the same stress in early in crop or at flowering or later. Make sure you can quantify and make the correct certification of stress. “Third – make sure you assess your product performance objectively. Move away from subjective and anecdotal evidence, move to objective and quantified evidence which can build the credibility of the product. If you rely on anecdotes, it is difficult to prove and translate into measurable indicators,” said Colonna.
Second day The science track session began with Professor Patrick Brown, chair of the scientific committee delivering a keynote on ‘Biostimulants, Nutrient Use Efficiency and Product Quality’.
You know why we are here. Agriculture is inefficient.
“You know why we are here. Agriculture is inefficient,” said Professor Brown early in his presentation. He went on to describe the effects of nutrients draining into the Gulf of Mexico. He said that customers are insisting on sustainability and mitigation of pollution. “This will be the driver that matters,” concluded Brown.
This was followed by a presentation from Landlab in Italy. Cristina Sudiro, Area Manager Plant Biostimulation, discussed ‘LL004: a novel biostimulant for improved yield and quality in fruits in phosphorus deficiency.’ LL004 is a standardized metabolite phytocomplex, covered in New AG International March 2020.
The science track continued with Hiarhi Monda, R&D Lab Director, Bio Huma Netics, Inc who expanded on humic acids extracted from shale ore in a presentation titled ‘Bioactivity of humic acids extracted from shale ore: molecular characterization and structure-activity relationship with tomato plant yield and phenotype.’ Continuing the science track, we looked at a biostimulant for a specific crop. Robert Kremer, Professor of Soil Microbiology, University of Missouri: ‘A brassinosteroid-based biostimulant integrated with an innovative crop system improves maize productivity.’ Professor Kremer also presented the concept of a solar corridor crop system (SCCS), which in the abstract was described thus: “SCCS, based on wide-row spacing of maize, forms a corridor that provides more uniform distribution of incident sunlight available to all chloroplasts within the fully exposed leaves. The SCCS maximizes the capture of solar radiation and carbon dioxide, improving photosynthetic efficiency and grain yields.” PhD researcher from Belgian Ghent University, Noemie de Zutter presented on ‘Shaping the rhizospere: Can in planta rhizobiome selection for phosphate solubilizing bacteria outperform classical in vitro selection methods?’ In the science track, we heard from Lukasz Langowski, molecular and plant biologist, with Brandon Bioscience. He elucidated on ‘Ascophyllum nodosum biostimulants and their role in reducing nitrogen inputs for sustainable crop production’. Also, in the science track on Day 2, we heard from Stefano Ambrosini, PhD student, University of Verona, who presented: ‘A root-growth promoting collagen-based protein hydrolysate boosts recovery after Fe deficiency.’ Ambrosini went on to win the Poster award (see comments in Awards section). Continuing the science track on Day 2, Heiner Goldback, Professor, Division Plant Nutrition, University of Bonn, presented on ‘Foliar application of biostimulants; how to get them into the leaf apoplast?’ "Everything about the morphology of the leaf is against absorption,” began Professor Goldback. He said the challenge was to identify the bottlenecks for biostimulant absorption when applied as foliar product. The science track then looked at seed treatments, and continued with Julien Besnard, Research Engineer, University de Caen Normandie with ‘Biostimulant seed treatment to enhance germination, symbiosis establishment and early growth of soybean subjected to low temperature.’ The science track continued with Algaia and the director of Research and Innovation Franck Hennequart who discussed ‘Development of novel patented seaweed-based pool of ingredients to enhance plant growth through the soil beneficial bacteria.’ Another presentation related to foliar application and this time a specific crop was delivered by Jesús Alcolea, Variety and Transfer Manager of the Fruit breeding group CEBAS-CSIC in Spain, with a presentation entitled: ‘Evaluation of important fruit traits in almond cultivar ‘Penta’ after foliar application of a biostimulant.’
Forward looking Also in the science track were two future-looking presentations from Guillaume Barbier, Biofertility Program Director of JoynBio: ‘Synthetic biology for unmet agriculture needs.’ In another forward-looking presentation, we heard from the CEO of Fyteko Guillaume Wegria, with ‘Bioengineered naturally occurring signal molecules, a new generation of plant biostimulants.’
Third day Day 3 in the science track began with Pierdomenico Perata, Professor of Plant Physiology, Scuola Superiore Sant’Anna who tackled the big question: The future of biostimulants.’ Professor Perata had been on the scientific committee of the first Biostimulants World Congress. “We absolutely need legislation, but we need to be careful that it doesn’t slow down innovation,” he said.
We absolutely need legislation, but we need to be careful that it doesn’t slow down innovation
Following on and coming at the sector from a regulatory viewpoint: ‘Proving the impossible: how regulations denying the multifunctional nature of beneficial microorganisms can kill the innovative potential of plant biostimulants’ was presented by Kristen Sukalac, Consulting Partner, European Biostimulants Industry Council (EBIC). Sukalac reminded the audience that the EU Fertilising Products regulation (2019) comes into effect next year – July 2022.
To follow there was a regulatory framework and update panel with Kristen Sukalac and David Beaudreau, Executive Director, U.S. Biostimulant Coalition. Later in the morning on Day 3, there was a view from the growers from Zheng Wang, Cooperative Extension Vegetable Crops Farm Advisor, University of California Cooperative Extension: ‘Voice from California Vegetable Growers on Crop Biostimulants: Impression, Concern, and Hopes’. The science track continued with Jose Maria Garcia Mina, Full professor of Agricultural and Biological Chemistry, University of Navarra discussing ‘The key role of biostimulants in a sustainable agriculture framework’. The closing remarks were delivered by Professor Patrick Brown, co-chair of the scientific committee. Brown drew on various aspects presented during the course of the conference.
Some presentations sort to understand the background situation, in other words the nutrient or microbiome status, in a field at any one time. Brown shared an anecdote: “I spoke to a farmer, and referring to images showing various colours he said, I’m fed up with pretty pictures. Come back when remote sensing is remotely useful.’” Brown went on to talk about the transition from research to product. “Sometimes we get marvellous results, but we don’t always. That’s the constraint that we know. No grower is going to buy a 50/50 product.” In summarising the conference papers, he said that one needs to come back to understand the biochemistry, and physiology. His final words were high praise for the standard of science presented.
Commerical Track In the commercial track, the commercial vice president USA for Hello Nature, Jon Leman, discussed ‘Innovation in the biostimulant sector: how to achieve sustainability and profitability.’ He spoke to New AG International afterwards: “It’s very encouraging to see investment coming into market, you’re seeing better R&D, and we see this as positive sign for all of us involved.” The circular economy was a point of discussion on the sidelines. Fabio Agnolon from SICIT Group told New AG International: “We produce and sell hydrolysed proteins – amino acids and peptides from animal origins. We are totally involved in circular economy. Because we recover byproducts, add value to those byproducts and we put them into the economic cycle.”
Roundtable There was a commercial roundtable discussion with an expert panel, followed by Dominic Arun Joseph, Director, Varsha Bioscience and Technology, who presented ‘Commercial aspects of biofertilizers and biostimulants development utilizing rhizosphere microbes.’ Continuing in the commercial track, Ry Wagner, President of International Agribusiness, AlgaEnergy discussed ‘Regenerative systems approach to sustainable agriculture; harnessing the power of innovative biological solutions.’
Also, on sustainability, Benoit Genot – Chair of the EBIC public affairs steering group and group marketing director, Valagro, elucidated “The third way: a solution for sustainability.” Looking to the future and sustainability in commercial track, there was Courtenay Wolfe, CEO FBSciences discussing ‘The Next Generation of Biostimulants Products: Finding synergies to make 1+1=3 in the field.’ Wolfe said, “If you’re not driving ROI, you’re not going to be successful.” When discussing the FBSciences strategy: “We don’t go out to sell at the lowest price. We might be higher, not competing on price. We want to win on ROI.”
If you’re not driving ROI, you’re not going to be successful.
Ryan Miller, Director of Applied Research for North America, Stoller, follows up on the sustainability theme with: ‘Utilizing science and technology to support agricultural sustainability.’ “What we find the most valuable about conferences like this is to find partners and be able to collaborate, and to grow our message and our industry together,” he told New AG International. Then in the latter part of the afternoon in the commercial session was Matt Meisner, Vice President of R&D and Data Science, Farmers Business Network, presenting ‘Accelerating Innovation Commercialization via On-Farm Trials.’ Rebecca Williams-Wagner, principal scientist 3Bar Biologics discussed ‘Revisioning the biomanufacturing process for improved delivery of microbial biostimulants.’
Fabien Achard, Biostimulant Product Manager, Agrauxine by Lesaffre, offered insights on ‘How we develop and commercialise biostimulant solutions. A case study insight to Moka, a yeast extract-based solution.’ A case study was also be presented by Agronutrition’s Philippe Girault, Director of Commercial Export. Continuing the commercial track, ‘Driving innovation in legume seed treatment through biostimulants’, Alexandre Macedo, Vice President of Fertigation, Foliar and Biostimulants, Yara. The session was concluded by a presentation from Anna Konieczny, International Marketing Manager of Polish company Intermag, who posed a question: ‘How to turn beneficial elements into effective biostimulants?’ (see interview Intermag)
Roundtable day 2 There was a second roundtable on the Innovation Stage featuring experts from a variety of companies. Back to the commercial track, Irina Taka, Owner and Executive VP of Crop Biostimulation Technologies took the floor to discuss ‘Modern paths for tackling crucial plant needs through crop biostimulation techniques.’ Hamdi El Jendoubi, International Technical Area Manager, Fertinagro Biotech: ‘Soil microbiome biostimulation, designing the new phosphorus nutrition in plants’. A case study from Amvac was scheduled to round out the day on the commercial track.
Dmytro Yakovenko, Head of International Department, BTU-Center, Ukraine What did BTU-Center gain from attending the Congress Biostimulants World Congress was undoubtedly worth visiting for us. We attended the Congress for the first time and immediately felt benefits from participation. What we liked the most – real opportunity to share the best practices with colleagues from the industry. The program was busy with important research summaries, scientific highlights and regulations updates. We caught important messages that will contribute to our strategy build up. BTU-Center was very pleased to be invited to perform on the Innovation stage. We felt interest to our technologies and got about 20 new business contacts with companies from the EU, North and South America. Now we have lots of work with them to do. We hope for productive cooperation. What are your perspectives on the state of the biostimulants industry? Where do you see the main developments in the next few years? The world biostimulants market is far from reaching its full potential. Frankly, to some extent in Ukraine we are a bit ahead of the EU in terms of use of biostimulants in large scale on raw crops. In the next few years, we expect more demand for biotechnologies, and our products are already available in the EU and East Europe which stay our main markets. Biostimulants and biofertilizers are 70% of our portfolio. The way of development looks quite logical: development of the market (education, evidence of the benefits and efficiency); improvement of average scientific and practical prove of products on the market; improvement of stability and consistency of the products). We expect the more knowledge exchange and awareness raise about biological methods of growing. Our company prepares for new markets extension, including West Europe and America. Now we are focused on development of alternative, more stable dry formulations of most perspective products.
Atlantica Agricola’s CEO, Marta Gutiérrez, highlighted the theme of digital agriculture and robotic technology at the Congress when talking with New AG International. “I think the added-value change is going to change a lot. I think public enterprise as well as private companies must research to reduce the use of pesticides. There are other factors such as digitalisation and sustainability that are going to modify how we understand agriculture, and the way we develop the process in the future.”
Product launches Many products were launched at the Biostimulants World Congress. The following does not attempt to be a complete list and apologies are extended if a product was launched of which we were unaware. Alexandre Macedo, Vice President of Fertigation, Foliar and Biostimulants, Yara told New AG International: “Research has always been important to Yara and in the last 10 years we’ve gone deep into biostimulants.” At the Congress, Yara launched a seed treatment product for leguminous crops, of which soybean is the main target crop. “The product is tank-mixable with pesticides [and] is heavy metal free, the results are really good in terms of nitrogen fixation and nodulation. It’s a product that ticks all the important boxes for the farmer, and we’re proud to launch it at this event.” Carles Zannuy, Global Sales Manager for Sustainable Agro Solutions, told New AG International: “We have our Banadak product, for the induction of defensives for banana crop [defense activator biostimulant], and we’ve been developing a similar product for coffee crops.” Van Iperen is ready to launch its range based on Plants for Plants. Three products were unveiled at the Congress – 4-Good, 4-Vita and 4-Terra. These products will be launched in January in Europe and the Middle East, according to Marine Denion-Lair, Director of Marketing with Van Iperen. Other new products were launched by Brandon Bioscience (see NOV 2021 issue of New AG International) which is a biostimulant coating for fertilizer granules. Lisha Daniel, Senior Technical Manager, Plant Nutrition at Sensient Technologies, gave a presentation highlighting the company’s new range of raw materials. Tradecorp launched Biimore product; see interview with Jorge Aquilar. “Biimore is an efficient biostimulant obtained from exclusive plant fermentation period,” he told New AG International in an exclusive interview. “It has a high efficacy at ultra-low doses,” he added. ●
The solar corridor maximizes the capture of solar radiation and carbon dioxide
