Stressed crop demo displays strength of Alltech Crop Science

When faced with the challenge of quickly showing product efficacy to a new dealer, Alltech Crop Science (ACS) U.S. technical sales manager Brian Springer decided to take an innovative approach. 

“We didn’t have time or space for a traditional demo,” says Springer, who searched for a way that would highlight how ACS products help crops under stressful situations. 

The answer would take the form of a 79-day, head-to-head barrel trial using two control and two separately treated barrels of tender sweet corn. Soil-Set® was applied to both of the treated barrels at planting and resulted in a greater initial take-off during the first week  —  when compared to the two control barrels — and were later treated with Grain-Set® and Liqui-Plex®Zn. 

“The plants in the treated barrels were uniform in size and larger than those in either of the control barrels,” says Springer. “We also saw 100 percent emergence in the ACS barrels, whereas one of the control barrels only reached 67 percent emergence. This is a trend we continued to see throughout the trial.”   

Drought conditions soon set in, with 10 days of no water and temperatures of 100°F (37°C), and the ACS-treated barrels stood out significantly.

“The treated plants stood back up after the drought stress and produced corn,” says Springer.  “We also found that the root systems in the treated plants were significantly larger and resulted in greater yield than the control plants.

“Not only was the dealer surprised, but so were all the customers who visited the dealership everyday to buy feed or other farm needs," continues Springer. "They understand that fields produce differently, but now they see it’s possible to improve their soils in a cost-effective way, to compete with anyone.” 

Barrel trial using two control and two separately treated barrels of tender sweet corn. 

To learn more about what measures you can take to improve your soil, contact cropscience@alltech.com.