Products under development

Nutrient delivery to the plant – Chelating Agent

Chelating agents bind to required metals creating stable, water soluble complexes. Chelated micronutrients are more readily absorbed by plant roots and leaves, leading to better nutrient utilization and accelerated growth.  Effective chelates are valuable agents to improve the efficiency and therefore value of applications into micronutrient deficient soils.

SylvaCo’s chelating agent is highly effective and produced from naturally occurring substrate, unlike commonly used chelates such as EDTA that are known to affect DNA synthesis and cause chromosome disruption.

Liberating soil bound phosphorus – PBL

Many soils – particularly low pH or acidic soils – contain ‘bound phosphorus’: applied phosphorus that is tied up by aluminium ions, creating poorly soluble compounds that cannot be accessed by plant roots.

PBL solubilizes bound phosphate when applied into the furrow, improving the availability of existing phosphate to assist early seedling vigour.

Nitrification inhibition – UXN

Urease is an enzyme produced by soil microbes and fungi, that catalyses the breakdown of urea into ammonia and carbon dioxide. Urease plays a critical role in making applied nitrogen available to plants.  However, the rapid hydrolysis of urea by urease can result in excessive volatilization of ammonia, leading to losses of applied nitrogen into the atmosphere. This represents an economic loss to the farmer and creates greenhouse gases. The extent of ammonia volatilization and subsequent nitrous oxide (N₂O) formation is influenced by various factors, including soil pH, temperature, and moisture. Higher soil pH (more alkaline soils) and warmer temperatures generally increase ammonia volatilization.

UXN contains urease inhibiting phenols such as catechol. The application of UXN with urea will slow the release of urea to the plant, reducing ammonia volatilization and improving the availability of applied urea to the crop.