FoliarBlend Reduces the Pathogenic Stress on Roundup Ready Soybean Plants Caused by Glyphosate.

In university and independent field studies, FoliarBlend & Agri-Gro have been shown to suppress the promotion of deleterious or "low-level" soil borne pathogenic organisms.

 

In addition to suppressing the plants’ natural defense system, research indicates that glyphosate also promotes the proliferation of opportunistic disease causing pathogens in the soil, most notably the Fusarium and Pythium spp. Studies reveal that RR soybean plants have much higher levels of these pathogens on the roots when treated with glyphosate compared to RR soybean plants not sprayed with glyphosate. While RR soybean plants are not normally killed by these diseases, the plants use valuable energy to protect themselves from attack by these pathogens, likely contributing to yield reductions.


In 2006 and 2007, research was conducted between the University of Missouri and the USDA-ARS in Columbia, Missouri. The purpose of this research was to track FoliarBlend’s impact on crop yield along with measuring its ability to reduce pathogenic Fusarium colonies around the roots of RR soybean plants. As evidenced by the photographs above, fungal populations around the roots of RR soybeans treated with glyphosate were significantly higher compared to the check RR soybeans not treated with glyphosate.


However, on RR soybeans treated with both glyphosate and FoliarBlend, the fungal populations were comparable to the non-treated roots demonstrating FoliarBlend’s ability to reduce the pathogenic stress on RR soybean plants caused by glyphosate. In fact, this trend held consistent throughout the entire course of the study with FoliarBlend reducing fusarium colonies in 100% of the test strips in 2006 and 2007. The average count of Fusarium colonies on the soybean roots over the entire 2 year study was 103.1 CFU/100 cm of roots for the glyphosate control plot and 48.6 CFUs for the FoliarBlend treated plot.

 

Deleterious Soil Bacteria Counts After
1 Year with Agri-Gro

 

 

The chart demonstrates Agri-Gro’s ability to suppress
soil borne pathogenic microbes in both low yielding and
high yielding soils. This represents a 63% reduction in
the low yielding soils and 92% reduction in high yielding
soils. Study performed in Florida.
Research by David N. Sasseville, Ph. D.

 

Soybean growers depend on the nitrogen fixation process to supply the nitrogen required by soybean crops in addition to producing excess available nitrogen for the following crop. This free nitrogen is produced by a symbiotic relationship between the soybean plant and specific strains of rhizobium bacteria. The continued use of glyphosate, however, appears to reduce the rhizobium population in the soil resulting in fewer nitrogen nodules on soybean roots. In some cases, rhizobium levels and thus nodulation by soybeans are so low that it may be necessary to inoculate the soybean seed with rhizobium to get rhizobium levels high enough to sustain good nodulation by soybeans. The combination of Agri-Gro and FoliarBlend have demonstrated improved plant health and higher yields while keeping microbial populations in the soil more in balance and helping to stabilize rhizobium populations.

 

Roundup Ready™ is a trademark of Monsanto Company.