June 2020 - 7

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steps to better yields
in tomato, pepper and
melon crops.
Growing row crops like
tomato, pepper and cucurbits
is a difficult job, with yield
strongly effected by growing
conditions. Nutrition has the
potential to increase yield,
but get it wrong and yield
and quality can be reduced.
Here David Marks of Levity
Crop Science discusses how
good understanding of plant
physiology can teach us how to
use fertilizers better and how
this can drive improvements in
yield and quality. Let's start by
identifying four key targets for
getting high production:
1. Good establishment
2. Managing growth habit
3. Setting and holding fruit
4. Reducing stress
Establishment
Getting a crop off to a good
start can have a dramatic effect
on yield potential, young plants
(especially when transplanted)
are highly susceptible to stress
until a good root system is
established. Cell Power®
SizeN®
Ca contains amine N
stabilized using Levity's LimiN
technology, this holds the N in
a form that gives good rooting,
allowing row crops to develop a
strong even stand.
Growth habit
Once a crop is well established
and has an even size
distribution, we need to build
canopy, but use too much
conventional nitrogen can result
in leggy plants with excess
vegetative growth. Here we need
to understand the effect of N
form on plant architecture.
Nitrates are processed in the leaf
and encourage a build up of the
growth hormone auxin, other
forms of nitrogen like amine do
not promote auxin production
and instead encourage cytokinin
production leading to a different
growth habit. Unfortunately,
farmers gain no advantage from
using different N forms from
conventional fertilizer as N is
unstable in the environment and
taken up predominantly
as nitrate regardless of the form
it was applied as.
Cell Power®
SizeN®
products
use a chemistry developed by
Levity Crop Science to stabilize N
in the amine form, which allows
farmers to improve growth
portioning whereby the crop
invests more of its growth in
reproductive growth and less
in vegetative growth. So what
does this mean from a practical
perspective? Lets look at an
experiment on pepper (Fig. 1).
Here we see how nitrates
encourage investment in
vegetative growth giving taller
'leggy' plants, but the same
quantity of N supplied by
Figure 1: Lancaster University study. Standard N (left), SizeN (right).
Cell Power® SizeN®
produces
shorter plants with more
investment in fruit production.
In field experiments in Spain on
cucumber Lono (Cell Power®
SizeN®
) reduces internode
distance (bushier habit),
impacting positively on fruit
number, fruit size, and total
yield. The same principle applies
to tomato, pepper, melon,
eggplant where Cell Power®
SizeN®
to growers around the world.
Setting and holding fruit
The third key to good yields in
tomato, pepper, and cucurbit crops
is making sure that flowers turn
into fruit. To ensure good setting
and fruit holding growers need
to get calcium inputs right. Most
growers use too much calcium, but
still struggle to get enough into the
crop in the right place at the right
time to prevent problems.
There is a short window of
opportunity to use conventional
foliar calcium products on
fruit, as calcium transport is
dependent on polar auxin
transport. This means that parts
of plants high in auxin can absorb
calcium easily, but parts of plants
low in auxin struggle to absorb
calcium. Flowers have a short
period of high auxin synthesis,
and fruit only have high levels
when very small (0-5mm) and
cells are dividing. This makes
application of calcium hit and
miss, with some fruit and flowers
absorbing it and some not.
Cell Power®
Cell Power®
Calcium Gold and
Calcium Platinum
in the USA, uses a technology
developed by Levity Crop
Science that helps parts of crops
less able to absorb Ca to take it
in normally. In tomato and other
row crops it an increase setting
and fruit holding allowing crops
to reach a higher potential yield.
Reducing stress
The final key to great row crop
production is managing stress.
Crops that can cope with stress
produce higher yields and have
improved quality. Cell Power®
has been of great benefit
SizeN®
is proven to improve
plant growth during stressful
growing conditions, making it
a big hit in arid and semi arid
regions. Here we show results
from studies at Myerscough
University College (UK) looking
at how Cell Power®
SizeN®
Ca
improves tomato yield during
salinity stress.
Cell Power®
SizeN®
has been
shown to help a wide range of
crops cope with harsh growing
conditions in many parts of
the world. It gives strong root
development, and improved
photosynthesis which are key
to keeping crops green and
productive in stress conditions.
For more information on
products please contact
OMEX® Agrifluids at
OmexUSA@Omex.com
or call 559-661-6138.
June 2020

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of June 2020
