Plant Health Insights

Australian cotton has a reputation for high quality and high productivity, boasting yields that are more than three times the world average. The Loveland Agri Products’ range can help cotton growers maintain their leading edge and maximise their return on investment by setting the stage for a high performing crop early in the growing season.

The Superior Cotton Planting guide focuses on three key Loveland products that can be used to enhance the growth and performance of both irrigated and dryland cotton:

• Foundation™ LM - A biochemical catalyst for liquid fertilisers that increases nutrient availability and improves nutrient use efficiency. Foundation LM is an easy-to-use, cost-effective and safe method of making phosphorus more available to the plant at emergence and at early seedling stage. It helps to increase phosphorus efficiency by converting organic phosphorus into the plant-available, inorganic form.
• Radiate^® - An APVMA-registered foliar plant growth regulator technology. Radiate contains balanced amounts of indolebutyric acid (IBA) and other nutritional ingredients designed to promote root and shoot growth, improving
  overall plant vigour.
• LoKomotive^® - A liquid potassium acetate formulation specifically designed to provide maximum potassium uptake with minimal potential for phytotoxicity.

During "Early Season Technologies to Increase Cotton Production," you will hear about two technologies—Foundation LM and Radiate—that can improve cotton production by providing benefits such as increased nutrient availability, enhanced root growth and improved stress tolerance.

During the webinar, you'll see: 

• What Foundation LM and Radiate are
• How these products can maximise yield potential in an agronomic program on cotton
• Recent trial results in cotton

For a high-performing cotton crop, growers need to set the stage for success early in the growing season. In this short video, you'll hear from a cotton agronomist how early season applications of Foundation LM and Radiate can support plant health and maximise cotton yield potential by providing benefits such as enhanced rooting, improved nutrient uptake and increased resistance to plant stress. 

An irrigated cotton trial harvested in 2017 in Wee Waa, New South Wales demonstrates the ability of Foundation LM to help cotton crops achieve higher yields when this biocatalyst is added to a grower's standard fertiliser practice (GSP).

Recent trials from New South Wales show that adding a fertiliser biocatalyst to a cotton fertility program increases cotton yields and brings in exceptional return on investment (ROI) for a grower. 

In a trial conducted in Rowena, the grower's standard fertility program was compared to the grower's standard with Foundation LM (applied at 5 L/Ha in the furrow at planting). Rows were planted in a solid configuration and the crop was fully irrigated. Despite little difference in development between the control and Foundation-treated crops throughout the season, the addition of Foundation increased yields by 0.64 bales per hectare (equivalent to a revenue increase of +$320/Ha) when the cotton was ginned.