AMALGEROL ESSENCE - a successful mixture of ingredients

Amalgerol Essence is currently being trialed in Canada in canola, pea, lentil and soybean in Ontario and across the Canadian Prairies. It’s a foliar application with seven types of ingredients. For some of the product’s active ingredients, the mode of action and benefit is straightforward. For example, alginate (derived from seaweed) has water retention properties and functions as a soil conditioner. However, for others such as the botanical extracts, mode of action is not yet known.

Dr. Logan Skori, Hechenbichler’s technical lead in Canada, explains that the extracts contain many components which help strengthen the plant immune system.

“Due to the wide spectrum of metabolites within plant tissue, it is difficult to precisely understand the complex mode of action,” he says. “The molecular compounds are diverse in nature and can have many properties including antioxidant and antifungal properties.”

The “hydrosylated” protein in Amalgerol Essence has undergone chemical hydrolysis, where large proteins are broken down into short amino acid chains and amino acids. The latter, says Skori, can be absorbed by the plant via both leaves and root tissues, stimulating nitrogen metabolism and assimilation. Hydrosylated protein may also help induce plant defence responses to increase tolerance to various types of abiotic stress.

Plant hormones, derived from Ascophyllum nodosum seaweed extract, trigger growth, but Skori says they also play an important role in regulating response to abiotic and biotic stress. Amalgerol Essence also contains organic carbon, a source of nutrition for soil microbes that break down organic matter and make nutrients available to roots.

Hechenbichler’s research trials, its own and collaborative, have been happening for over 20 years. Among its own peer-reviewed published studies, one on spinach shows that applying the product results in a 43 percent increase in yield, 50 percent increase in dry leaf matter, 15 percent increase in leaf protein content and 31 percent increase in phenolics (antioxidants). Another study shows improved water stress tolerance in citrus trees before transplanting.

“One of our most recent third-party scientific studies focused on the application of Amalgerol Essence on drought-stressed tomatoes with a collaborator based in France,” reports Skori. “Three groups of tomato plants were grown under greenhouse conditions. Plants treated with Amalgerol Essence had reduced levels of proline (a biomarker for plant stress) in leaf tissue.” 

Following recovery from drought, the treated plants had increased biomass compared to control plants. Skori adds that “when the respective groups were harvested, there was no statistical significance between the non-stressed control and the stressed plants treated with Amalgerol Essence. This suggests the product helped mitigate plant stress and helped to preserve yield potential.”

(An article from BIOSTIMULANTS | New AG International Nov/Dez 2022. News AG International is the world's leading resource on high-tech agriculture and provides information, analysis and commercial opportunities.)