Benefits of Bagira Biostimulant — Q&A
Maria Karamagioli; Greece and Cyprus Business Consultant for Miller Chemical and Fertilizer, LLC.
Bagira is a registered trademark of Intrachem Bio Deutschland GmbH & Co. KG.
What is a common challenge of modern agriculture?
One prominent issue is guaranteeing adequate crop yields and productivity. Globally, there is an issue of declining soil fertility and productivity, particularly as growers strive to comply with stringent environmental regulations devised to protect and preserve local ecosystems.
What solutions are available?
Significant focus is being placed on sustainable approaches that include the technological use of plant growth promoting substances, known also as biostimulants. These products enrich the soil and/or plants with both bioactive organic molecules and beneficial microorganisms. There are various categories of such products. One of the most important types as it relates to soil heath, are those that contain organic acids. These organic acids are normal components of fertile and productive soils. They play important roles in soil nutrient availability, ecology and overall plant productivity.
Do organic acids affect plant growth and development or only the soil?
Organic acids have both direct and indirect roles in crop production. Their presence in the soil facilitates the uptake of deficient, unavailable and/or insoluble nutrients through the mechanisms of acidification, chelation, and exchange reactions.
On the other hand, the organic acids occupy a central position in the metabolism of plants as they are early products of photosynthesis and serve as precursors for the synthesis of many other compounds. The close metabolic relationship of organic acids to fats, carbohydrates and proteins emphasizes their key role in plants
The Miller team closely follows innovative technologies based on scientific research and have been working with organic acids for many years, manufacturing a variety of such products.
One key and relatively new product to the international solutions portfolio is Bagira, which has a unique combination of organic acids.
What are the basic characteristics of Bagira?
Bagira is a biostimulant composed of Humic substances from the best source of leonardite available in the US, as well as a proprietary blend of organic acids that were developed throughout years of research on plant roots, rhizosphere microorganisms and mycorrhiza fungi. In addition, all these components have been specially formulated for bioactivity stability with a pH of 4-5.
How does this unique formulation of Bagira affect crops?
When it is applied in soil, it reduces salinity problems by helping to leach sodium out of the rootzone (very effective in high sodium issues), can assist in improving soil microbe populations, improves soil aeration and structure, which can help soils to retain moisture.
It is very effective in stimulating root growth and especially root hairs/tips (plant “feeding”) in crops.
It ties and chelates nutrients as well as converting them into forms which are available to the plants and aids their translocation inside the plant. It enhances calcium, phosphate, magnesium, and micronutrient uptake (iron, zinc, etc.) while solubilizing and leaching sodium in high sodium soils.
Its acid pH and its ability to increase the plant cell membrane permeability, highly improves the effectiveness of plant protection products (incl. growth regulators) and fertilizers in the same spray solution.
It is an ideal tool under adverse conditions such as extreme weather conditions (high/low temperatures), drought conditions and for soils poor in organic matter and/or highly alkaline and saline soils.
Is Bagira applied in the soil or sprayed on plant?
Both applications are possible. It can be applied in the soil through the irrigation/fertigation system and/or foliar sprays. Refer to the product label for specific recommendations per crop.
Can Bagira be applied to any crop?
Yes, Bagira is suitable for all crops for maximizing yield and quality. It is active in the soil under all conditions and in the plant with biostimulant properties.