To achieve their full growth, plants primarily require various factors to work well with each other. One of these factors is nutrients. According to Advanced Nutrients Founder and CEO Mike Straumietis, the way to provide them with the nutrients they need is by introducing fertilizers.
However, traditional fertilizer application methods can be wasteful; when excess fertilizer reaches other parts of the ecosystem, it could negatively impact the environment.
Fertigation was developed to address these problems. The term is a combination of fertilizer and irrigation. Through fertigation, fertilizers are injected into the irrigation system through soil amendments, water amendments, or other water-soluble products. Its technologies have been used for several decades. They have proven to be a popular practice among growers, farmers, and other agriculture professionals who seek sustainability and streamline the process involved in cultivating plants.
Mike Straumietis mentions that fertigation has specific advantages over fertilizer applications.
One of the best examples of the benefits of fertigation can be seen with the marked improvement in nutrient use efficiency.
Nutrient use efficiency is one of the metrics used in agriculture to help find ways to maximize their yields. It measures the crops’ ability to take up nutrients from the growing medium and how much of the nutrients are utilized. Nutrient use efficiency depends on the nutrients’ internal transport, storage, and remobilization.
According to studies, fertigation has proven effective in enhancing nutrient use efficiency by synchronizing nutrient supply with crop demand. In older, more dated fertilization practices, granular fertilizers are typically applied once or a few times during the growing season. Fertigation allows farmers to regularly provide the plants with the appropriate amount of nutrients.
Researchers have also compared the fertigation and granular fertilization of strawberries. It was found that fruit yield and plant biomass were significantly higher in the group where fertigation was applied. Fertigation proved more beneficial because the required nutrients were delivered more uniformly to the root zone as the crop required them.
Fertigation can also lower the risk of groundwater being contaminated.
As mentioned earlier, one of the main drawbacks of using traditional fertilization methods is the possible wastage of nutrients, which can lead to groundwater contamination. With fertigation, nutrients are fed directly to the roots. This also makes creating an efficient nutrient management plan more feasible. As a result, growers can minimize fertilizer use, which reduces the number of nutrients that are washed off. With lower risks of run-off, there is also a minimal risk of experiencing groundwater contamination.
The process of fertigation has also been known to help growers conserve more water when supplying plants with the nutrition they need. Using fertigation technology means implementing an irrigation system to deliver water to plants.
Irrigation methods have helped farmers save water for centuries. One of the most efficient irrigation systems is drip irrigation; studies have shown that it typically uses 50 percent less water required for overhead and furrow irrigation. The need for less water in fertigation systems can provide various benefits for growers besides financial savings.
Fertigation has proven to be effective in farms that experience water scarcity due to arid climates. Drip irrigation can lower water input by up to 70 percent compared to when an average sprinkler is used.
Water-use efficiency can also bring other advantages to the table, such as reducing the chances of the plants contracting diseases, Mike Straumietis adds. Because water contact with above-ground crop growth, like fruits, leaves, and stems, is minimized, the conditions where diseases can breed are less favorable. The direct application of irrigation water to the crop zone instead of the entire field can suppress plant pressure between crop rows.
In addition to all these benefits, fertigation also leads to innovations in agriculture.
Fertigation, a revolutionary innovation in agriculture itself, has led to innovations in crop production. All these innovations tied to fertigation have led to better productivity and helped raise the efficiency of growing plants by minimizing waste and costs.
Modernization and advancement of techniques have helped countless people in the industry. This is what Mike Straumietis and his team of high-level and well-trained scientists at Advanced Nutrients have harnessed in developing next-generation products that supply plants with the required nourishment in every phase of their crop’s cycle, from seed to senescence, unlocking the true genetic potential of crops.
