BIO-N
The fertiliser alternative, crop & soil Nitrogen fixation
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Overview
The earth's atmosphere contains over 70,000 tonnes of nitrogen above each hectare (that's over 30,000 tonnes per acre). However, this nitrogen is predominantly not in a form that crops can easily utilise until now.
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Bio-N from SFS is a revolutionary alternative to traditional nitrogen fertilisers. It offers a sustainable solution by providing a slow-release form of nitrogen that is 100% available to your crop as and when required. This product utilises a consortium of nitrogen-fixing bacteria to convert atmospheric nitrogen and nitrogen from organic matter into nitrogen directly available to plants, a breakthrough in sustainable farming practices.
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By harnessing the natural process of nitrogen fixation, including both symbiotic and free-living nitrogen fixation, Bio-N helps to reduce nitrogen leaching and minimise the need for synthetic fertiliser inputs. As a result, it contributes to improved soil and crop health in a more environmentally friendly way.
Benefits
Reduces expensive artificial nitrogen
Takes advantage of atmospheric nitrogen
Promotes root growth, meaning healthier plants
Releases phosphate, meaning stronger growth
How does it work?
Bio-N represents the next generation of nitrogen fertiliser, offering a bio-positive nitrogen solution that ensures 100% efficiency. It delivers nitrogen to your crops just when it’s needed.
The core of Bio-N’s functionality is its consortium of bacteria, which includes key microorganisms involved in nitrogen fixation and soil/plant health. In unison, these microbes convert atmospheric nitrogen and nitrogen from organic matter into a form immediately available to plants. This process of microbial nitrogen fixation enhances the efficiency of nitrogen delivery to crops.
Unlike traditional nitrogen fertilisers, Bio-N uses free-living nitrogen fixation to significantly improve atmospheric nitrogen availability, thus reducing the environmental impact of conventional fertiliser use. This also helps reduce nitrogen leaching, providing long-term benefits to soil health by promoting a sustainable nitrogen cycle.
Bio-N is a completely bio-supportive product, meaning it not only contains beneficial microbes for nitrogen fixing but also introduces bacillus with pathogen control tendencies (a natural guard dog if you like). Bio-N is unique in that it contains a specifically developed bacterial food source to fully support its microbial workforce. This is particularly important and improves soil resources and crop performance.
Independent NIABTAG crop trials show that Bio-N fixes over 70 kg/ha of nitrogen, demonstrating its effectiveness across various crops. Whether you replace standard nitrogen applications with Bio-N or add it to your regular fertiliser program, Bio-N offers a cost-effective nitrogen solution that can help enhance yield and protein levels, making it a powerful tool for improving crop quality and reducing environmental impact.
Golden rules of using Bio-N
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Soil must be well structured: ideally 25% air.
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Soil temperature must be at least 6°C, however 8°C is optimal.
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Must be applied either in rain or before rain.
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Must be applied on it's own, not mixed.
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Must have a large droplet size or dribble bar.
Organics, NVZs and environment
We recently received the results from Future Bio-gas, who conducted independent one-year trials applying Bio-N at the four-leaf stage in field-scale trials. These trials were conducted in a challenging environment with very high pH, low magnesium, and minimal organic matter conditions that typically result in low yields.
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Despite the challenges, Bio-N delivered an excellent and significant response, resulting in a yield increase of 3.46 t/ha over the control plots, which followed the standard fertiliser guidelines in RB209. This represented a gross profit of £120/ha, with a net profit of £90/ha after accounting for the cost of the Bio-N application. (The application rate of Bio-N has since been adjusted slightly to optimise results.)
Bio-N is organically approved, making it a revolutionary solution for organic producers. One application provides steady, slow-release nitrogen for any growing crop throughout the season, promoting nitrogen fixation benefits without synthetic fertilisers.
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Bio-N is 100% efficient. The nitrogen-fixing bacteria only fix what is required, meaning there is zero nitrogen leaching or runoff. This makes it ideal for use in NVZs (Nitrate Vulnerable Zones), and it does not count towards your farm’s N-Max limits, ensuring compliance with environmental regulations.
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By using Bio-N, you can also reduce your farm's carbon footprint. Unlike traditional fertilisers, such as urea, which release 11.19 kg of CO2 equivalent per kilogram of nitrogen during production, Bio-N fixes nitrogen directly in the soil, leading to a significantly lower environmental impact.
Summary
Stable nitrogen offers numerous environmental and economic benefits. Unlike traditional fertilisers, it eliminates volatilisation and nitrogen leaching, resulting in lower costs and reduced nitrate levels in soil and water.
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This slow-release nitrogen solution also enhances air and water movement within the soil while requiring less storage space. In addition to its environmental advantages, Bio-N improves animal health when used in pastures, as it is a more natural alternative to synthetic nitrogen sources.
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Using stable nitrogen like Bio-N also contributes to better food preservation, extending the shelf life of crops and products. Furthermore, it helps reduce disease pressure from soilborne pathogens, such as Fusarium and Phytophthora, which are more commonly associated with conventional nitrogen fertilisers.
