Tuesday, February 20th 2024

Natural Chelation Supports Enhanced Nutrient Uptake

We at BigYield.us hope that you’ve had a successful start to planting! On Monday, USDA released its latest crop planting progress report. In it, the agency reported that 17 percent of corn in selected states had been planted by April 23. On average, that progress is on pace with previous years. Between 2012 and 2016, 18 percent of corn had been planted by that time.

Soon, though, attention will turn to soybeans. As you’re preparing for soybean planting, we encourage you to consider our new BigYieldCoat Soy seed treatment. It supplies multiple nutrients necessary for soybean growth and development. Those nutrients are calcium, magnesium, sulfur, cobalt, copper, iron, manganese, molybdenum and zinc.

Each nutrient in the BigYieldCoat Soy seed treatment has a specific role in keeping soybean plants healthy and encouraging them to yield well at harvest. Cobalt and molybdenum, for example, support soybean crops in fixing nitrogen.

To ensure that plants can use nutrients in BigYieldCoat Soy, the product uses natural chelation. Without chelation, some nutrients may have susceptibility to being oxidized or precipitated. Such processes within the soil can limit crops from using the nutrients, according to a publication from University of Florida IFAS Extension. For certain nutrients, chelation improves their availability, meaning that crops can more readily use them as they grow and develop.

To chelate nutrients, an organic molecule such as a ligand or chelator acts as a “claw” that essentially surrounds a nutrient ion and forms bonds with the nutrient. The chelation “protects” the nutrients and reduces the risk of oxidation, precipitation and immobilization posing a problem and making nutrients less available to crops, according to the University of Florida IFAS Extension publication.

Iron serves as an example. It’s a nutrient that often exists at adequate levels but lacks suitable availability in some soil conditions. As a result, a chelated supplement may promote iron uptake and use by the plant. This story from DTN/The Progressive Farmer shares more about addressing iron deficiency chlorosis in soybeans by using chelates and other strategies.

Not only are nutrients in the BigYieldCoat Soy seed treatment chelated, but the chelation itself uniquely uses natural substances rather than synthetic ones. In this video, Kent Kauffman of BigYield.us explains why natural chelation is important and why the multiple lignands used to chelate BigYieldCoat Soy nutrients help to make the nutrients quickly available to plants.

For growers interested in trying the BigYieldCoat Soy seed treatment, we’re now introducing the BigSmartPlots program for soybeans. Through this program, growers can design their own field trials and test the BigYieldCoat Soy product. At harvest, growers enrolled in the BigSmartPlots program share yield data and product experiences with the BigYield.us team.

Contact us to learn more about the BigSmartPlots program for soybeans!

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