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Broadacre croppers can benefit from switching on plant genes

IMPROVED: Farmers have achieved improved productivity in crops treated with Sabel-X in those trials, with a vigour and yield response, including sorghum. Picture: Shutterstock.
IMPROVED: Farmers have achieved improved productivity in crops treated with Sabel-X in those trials, with a vigour and yield response, including sorghum. Picture: Shutterstock.

This is branded content for Sustainable Farming Solutions.

ON the back of tremendous results within horticulture crops, innovative crop nutrition company Sustainable Farming Solutions is increasingly turning its focus to the broadacre sector.

For the past 25 years, Sustainable Farming Solutions has been supporting the yield, quality and consequently profit for Australian farmers.

The company's Sabel-X product is based on improving yields with next generation endophytic Trichoderma.

These productive microbes live and produce metabolites within the plant in a symbiotic relationship that switches on genes whose pathways have a positive influence across the whole plant.

While Sabel-X Hort has gathered overwhelmingly positive feedback from growers, the cereal-specific version of the product has been available commercially since 2020 and trialed in sorghum, barley and wheat since 2018.

There are also versions of Sabel-X for corn, soybeans, cotton and canola.

The Sabel-X range for broadacre crops is applied as a dry seed treatment, which can be applied over fungicide treated seed.

Cereal crops experience root rot and damping off diseases like pythium and rhizoctonia. Canola crops also experience root rot, stem rot and damping off problems like clubroot, blackleg and sclerotinia.

MORE: Sustainable Farming Solutions' Sabel-X product is based on improving yields with next generation endophytic Trichoderma. Picture: Shutterstock.
MORE: Sustainable Farming Solutions' Sabel-X product is based on improving yields with next generation endophytic Trichoderma. Picture: Shutterstock.

According to Sustainable Farming Solutions founder Steven David, farmers have achieved improved productivity in crops treated with Sabel-X in those trials, with a vigour and yield response.

"The most impressive outcome from using Sabel-X in broadacre crops is that we see consistent improvement in yield from a biological seed treatment," Mr David said.

"This then translates to a return on investment (ROI) of $5 - $10 for every $1 spent; sometimes much, much higher."

Despite farm input prices increasing, Sabel-X has a benefit of improving the efficiency of nutrient utilisation within the plant, and in a period of higher grain prices, this translates into higher returns from fertiliser inputs.

Mr David said there has been a significant increase in interest in soil health from broadacre farmers, however it was important to find ways to manage soil health in broadacre crops in a cost effective way.

Generally there are a number of components of a healthy soil that result in healthier more productive crops

  • Nutrients for crop growth;
  • Balanced pH (slightly acidic;
  • Adequate soil organic matter and structure (friable);
  • Positive interactions between soil organic matter and beneficial soil microbes;
  • Positive interactions between plants and soil microbes.

"Improving productivity with biological seed treatments like Sabel-X is an excellent, cost-effective option for soil care in a wide range of broadacre crops," Mr David said.

"Crops of all types often go through stress periods. In broad-acre crops it can be difficult to time the application of biostimulant products like seaweed.

"In annual crops, Sabel-X is applied once as a seed treatment and remains active for the life of the crop. Helping reduce stress on crops when it needs the support."

Broadacre farmers often have reduced opportunities to apply biological products.

Although the horticulture and broadacre sectors have very different limitations on production, with Sabel-X all farmers have the opportunity to use biology to maintain or improve soil health, and improve crop productivity.

This is branded content for Sustainable Farming Solutions.