In 2017, a Nutrien Ag Solutions customer near Shepparton, Victoria, first tried Basis XC on his starter fertiliser. Today, all of the starter fertiliser on his farm gets treated with Basis XC, a biocatalyst technology that can be applied onto granular fertilisers to enhance nutrient efficiency.
“Our farm has good background nutrition in the soil, so I decided to compare straight DAP at our usual rate of 85kg/ha to DAP treated with Basis XC at 80kg/ha," said the grower, who is a cropper and oaten hay producer.
By slightly reducing the rate of the Basis XC-treated fertiliser in that initial trial, he felt he could better and more easily compare the two applications dollar for dollar.
Early observations of the trial showed that plants had a bigger root system, with many more finer root hairs, where Basis XC was used on the starter fertiliser. Moreover, these observations were backed up by yield results.
Basis XC contains a diverse range of beneficial biochemistries, such as enzymes, proteins, and organic acids, that accelerate the breakdown of treated granular fertilisers. This makes the applied nutrients more available for plant uptake and utilisation, which can lead to improved fertiliser efficiency and help maximise yield potential."Even at the reduced fertiliser rate, the efficiency from the Basis XC was definitely there, because we were either maintaining or, in some cases, increasing yield with that treatment. Now, we just treat all of our starter fertiliser," he said.
"We wouldn’t spend the money on Basis XC if we didn’t think it was worth it," he added. "We feel we are giving our crop a much better start and improving its yield potential.”
Learn more about Basis XC by downloading the Basis XC booklet.