Improving root health seen as key to future yield increases

Farm and Ranch July 18, 2011 Earlier this year Syngenta hosted the first Global Root Health Forum in Palm Beach, Florida attended by researchers from 15 countries. Another may be held in 2013. Why this emphasis on plant root health? During a company meeting last week in Spokane, Gina Swart, Global Technical Manager for Syngenta Crop Protection, says they believe improved root health will lead to the next boost in crop yields, including for wheat, which faces such root diseases as Rhizoctonia.

Swart: “If the soil quality is marginal we could actually raise the production in those areas by having crops with healthier roots without having to add more, and more fertilizers, because those strong, healthy roots would be able to optimally utilize what was already in the soil. We would have better stress tolerance, better water-use efficiency, better nutrient uptake and that translates into better yields at the end of the day.”

Swart says there is still a lot to learn about what makes for healthy roots. For example;

Swart: “I think there is a lot of things going on at a cellular level in the roots that we need to fully understand as well. That we can try and exploit this knowledge that we can potentially get from that.”

Swart says Syngenta believes seed treatments are the tool to deliver improved root health.

I’m Bob Hoff and that’s the Northwest Farm and Ranch Report on Northwest Aginfo Net.