Pivot Bio announced the launch of a microbial nitrogen seed-treatment Aug. 30, according to a company press release.
The company bills Proven 40 On-Seed and Return On-Seed as the first-ever products to deliver nitrogen-producing microbes on the seed for crops like corn, sorghum, and spring wheat.
“This class of products makes our nitrogen-producing microbes available to every grower across the United States,” says Karsten Temme, Ph.D., Pivot Bio co-founder and CEO. “There’s no special equipment required, and growers no longer must rely solely on a third-party to apply the nitrogen their crops need.”
The product is designed to enhance the crops’ potential all season long by providing a nitrogen source with no loss to leaching, denitrification, or volatilization. Unlike synthetic nitrogen, Pivot Bio’s microbes give growers confidence that this source of nitrogen reaches the crop. Pivot Bio’s microbes adhere to the root of the plant without any waste, providing nitrogen throughout the critical growing cycle.
Pivot Bio recently a large in-plant nitrogen study conducted in a single growing season on 2,100 on-farm fields, comprising 1.3 million acres. Company data show the plants where Pivot Bio microbes were used have 14% more nitrogen in the plant and 12% more plant biomass compared to untreated plants, demonstrating the nitrogen efficacy of Pivot Bio’s products.
“Based on the demand we’ve experienced in prior years and the intense interest in our product as we open 2023 sales, it is clear to us that growers are looking for a dependable source of nitrogen,” says Temme. “We have provided a microbe-based nitrogen that is produced in the U.S. This nitrogen empowers growers to apply it at the time of planting, so they are in control in a profession where so many variables are beyond their control.”
The company says one gallon of the new products can replace the equivalent of a train car full of anhydrous ammonia fertilizer.
“Synthetic nitrogen has supported life for one hundred years, and now is the time to evolve into the next generation of crop nutrition,” says Temme. “Farmers need better nitrogen to help restore the planet and one that is more efficient.”
