We did not discover anything new when we talked to you about the drought cycle that we are unfortunately having to live through. The lack of rainfall is causing a water shortage that inevitably also harms crops. And that is why it is essential to face this drought in the best way, with natural biosolutions that cushion the water stress that plants suffer in this situation.
At MAFA we believe that it is key to provide solutions to this situation, not only improving the yield of crops in a climatic circumstance like the current one and the one to come, but also creating products that improve the environment and contribute from their formulation to not aggravate environmental conditions. global warming.
And at the end of the day, this function is already mentioned in the legal definition of biostimulants. According to European directive 2009/1009, biostimulants have four basic functions:
- improve the nutrient use efficiency of vegetables,
- improve your tolerance to abiotic stress,
- improve its quality properties
- and increase the availability of nutrients immobilized in the soil or rhizosphere.
In other words, natural biosolutions such as biostimulants can enhance the natural processes of the plant, thereby reducing its energy needs and, above all, increasing its defenses against climatic conditions that are detrimental to its vital functions. That is, we achieve more resilient and protected crops without undermining their productivity.
In these natural biosolutions, components such as aminoacids (which precisely starred in our last post) help the plant to be more vigorous to defend itself against water stress and make it more resistant to conditions of lack of water.
Furthermore, we cannot ignore that zero-waste biostimulants, like the ones we make at MAFA, help preserve both the soil and the water they receive in good condition. We ensure that the plant captures the nutrients applied to the soil in optimal conditions and we contribute to reducing the use of other additional products. That is, with biostimulants we minimize the need to use other types of products, since we strengthen the plant’s defenses to face pests and diseases.
More natural biosolutions to face drought
But facing drought requires much more agricultural management than the use of residue-free biostimulants. In a situation of climate change, it is essential to pay special attention to the soil, to the extent that it constitutes the supply of essential nutrients and the support of the roots. That is, it is an essential component to understand sustainability in agriculture, since healthy soil protects the quality of the waters of agricultural ecosystems.
Our soils need a good structure and optimal levels of organic matter, which implies a better reserve of nutrients, greater exchange of nutrients, greater activity of soil microorganisms, etc. And that is why the application of soil regulators and conditioners, as well as probiotics and prebiotics, is also important in this drought situation, a line in which we are decisively advancing in our laboratories because we understand that they contain the most natural and healthy protection. Of crops.
As highlighted by the Higher Center for Scientific Research (CSIC), “investigating how plants respond to drought and designing new strategies to advance plant health are key to improving the efficiency of water use and guaranteeing future food availability.” . Like the CSIC, at MAFA we consider that biotechnology and the use of biostimulants and other natural biosolutions offer new strategies to combat water scarcity and address the needs of future agriculture.
