Alltech Idaho opened in 2005 and serves Idaho, Utah, Washington and Oregon.

Idaho produces more than potatoes. It ranks top ten in the nation for over 26 different crops. Idaho has risen to a leading dairy state, and in 2012 welcomed Chobani’s yogurt production facility.

Utah sets in the Intermountain West region of the U.S. The high desert makes it ideal for cow and calf ranches. The beef industry accounts for approximately 60% of Utah’s cash receipts.

Alltech Georgia serves the states of Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Mississippi and Louisiana. Alltech Georgia works with all species, specifically focusing on poultry, beef, and dairy to improve efficiency, performance and sustainability for our customers. With an efficient and passionate team the territory strives to be cohesive and strategic in taking Alltech’s solutions directly to our farming community to make you more profitable.

Excessive plant growth can reflect hormonal imbalance

Contrary to popular belief, plant growth is not directly linked to an increase in yield. For example, in beans, excessive vegetative development can lead to self-shading, a condition in which the lower leaves, where the productive areas of the plant are located, do not receive sunlight. This impedes photosynthesis, decreasing the productivity of the plant.

According to agronomist Fransérgio Batista, grain specialist and technical manager for Alltech Crop Science, this occurrence signifies a hormonal imbalance in the plant.

“There is a plant hormone, auxin, which is responsible for plant growth,” explained Batista. “When the plant develops excessively, it’s because there is too much of this hormone acting on the plant. This also inhibits the production of other hormones that are important to the plant.”

Intent on improving the balance of his bean crop, Joel Ragagnin, a grower from Jataí, in the state of Goiás, Brazil, added natural products that are based on plant extracts, nutrients and amino acids to his management practices. This combination aids the crop in balanced plant development.

“By having better control over plant growth, we can improve the productivity indexes on the farm,” said Ragagnin.

According to Batista, because photosynthesis is vital to the plant, keeping leaves green and healthy should be a prime objective of crop management.

“There are leaves from the lower to the upper parts of the plant,” said Batista. “A plant that produces is a plant that photosynthesizes in all its leaves. This is a key process for the plant.“

In addition to the use of crop inputs that contribute to the hormonal balance of the plant, the agronomist noted the importance of plant nutrition, the availability of water during the entire growth cycle and the control of pests and diseases for attaining adequate crop development.

“Through these methods, it’s possible for the producer to have an even more significant response,” concluded Batista.

Biostimulants enhance nutrient assimilation and plant development. They are becoming a popular crop input in many countries around the world for several reasons.

Benefits to using biostimulants on your farm

1. Biostimulants assist in combating the effects of environmental stresses.

Biostimulants promote enhanced germination and root development, leading to increased vigor and greater stress resistance. An enhanced root system promotes more efficient nutrient and water uptake and translocation throughout the growing season.

2. Biostimulants increase grain fill and quality.

Promoting growth and improvinga plant’s metabolism can benefit overall plant growth and health. In addition, providing a catalyst at specific developmental stages can lead to increased yield, improved uniformity and overall crop quality.

3. Biostimulants encourage plant growth.

Biostimulants generally operate through different mechanisms than standard fertilizers and provide essential nutrients for plant metabolism that stimulate plant growth. These metabolic pathways upregulate gene expression that can have an effect on cell division and sizing, root and shoot growth, and reproductive development and timing.

Your agronomist or crop advisor can give you more information on incorporating biostimulants into your current crop management program.

When scouting for disease in your crops, it is important to remember that sometimes the cause of the symptoms is not obvious. Diseases can be caused by a variety of factors, such as environmental stressors, reactions to various fertilizers or herbicides, nutritional deficiencies or soil problems. Therefore, it can be difficult to pinpoint the cause of the disease and determine an appropriate treatment.

When scouting your crops for disease, pay particular attention to these three plant parts:

1. Examine the roots

“Windshield scouting” while driving the fields doesn’t work because disease is not always easily visible to the human eye. To ensure you are catching any sign of disease before it progresses, it is important to get into the field and dig up a few plants to examine the roots. Look for unhealthy roots that may have lesions. To get a better look, try washing the roots with water and then cutting them up the middle to examine for any sign of internal infection.

2. Examine the leaves

Especially during flowering, make sure to look at the leaves and sheaths on each plant. Pay attention to lesions, which will help you determine the amount of leaf infection.

3. Examine the stem and heads

When examining the stems, heads and pods of plants, be sure to split them apart for a closer look at the inside, observing any discoloration that could be caused by fungi or bacteria. Also, check the outside of the stems, heads and pods of the plants for signs of fungal material or lesions.

Scouting for disease is critical to ensure early intervention. Samples should be taken of all suspect crops and submitted to a trusted lab, such as Quantum Genetix, that can test for disease.
 

How does Dan Donavan of Murphy and Sons increase yields and improve the quality of his tomatoes which are destined for restaurants like Subway, and What-A-Burger? He looks under the soil at root structure, of course, and that’s where Alltech Crop Science comes in.

Telmo Cristina, an industrial tomato producer in central Portugal, tells how Alltech Crop Science solutions improved the quality of his produce and helped him to better meet the demands of the tomato concentrate industry.

Meet Dan Olson. His grandfather came from Sweden and began to grow walnuts in the San Joaquin Valley. See how this superfood is grown and harvested, and find out how Alltech Crop Science helped him overcome a mysterious challenge.

The Greek physician Hippocrates, often considered the father of medicine, was the first person recorded to suggest a relationship between nutrition and maintaining good health. In the thousands of years since, the effect of nutrition on health has gained a whole new perspective through a scientific area of study called “nutrigenomics.”

What is nutrigenomics?

Your pet’s genome consists of all of its genetic material, or DNA. It provides the basic information for your pet’s life. You can think of it as a blueprint, providing carefully drawn out plans for your pet’s healthy life. However, outside influences, such as the environment and nutrition, can have a strong impact on the expression of this genetic information, or essentially how that blueprint is read.

The canine and feline genome sequences were first reported in 2005 and 2007, respectively. These breakthroughs opened the door for cutting-edge research approaches to understand the molecular mechanisms behind everyday life. While knowing the DNA sequence of a genome is an essential first step, the real breakthroughs come from understanding how each of the genes in that sequence responds to outside influences and how this relates to health and disease.

By up-regulating (“turning on”) or down-regulating (“turning off”) genes, the body changes the levels of the proteins that make up structures and functions in the cells. This, in turn, alters physiological processes like energy production or immune response. Nutrigenomics is the field of research we use to study if changes in genes occur with changes in the animal’s diet. By understanding nutritional influences on the genome, we can understand how these responses impact animal health. Using DNA microarrays, the basis for nutrigenomic studies, allows researchers to evaluate the activity of thousands of genes at a time. These studies provide us with new tools for understanding how nutrients precisely work, why different forms of nutrients have different effects and how such nutrients can be optimized for health.

Nutrigenomics is disrupting the classical view of animal nutrition, allowing us to look at “you are what you eat” in a whole new light.

How can we use nutrigenomics in pet nutrition?

A vast amount of data is generated from nutrigenomic studies. From a single experiment, we find out how thousands of genes respond to a diet change. This slew of information can help elucidate the complex interactions between nutrition, an individual animal’s genetic code, and the onset or prevention of diseases and disorders. By considering these aspects of nutrient-gene interactions, we can ultimately design diets for the treatment or prevention of specific diseases. For instance, if we can understand the molecular changes that occur prior to the onset of joint inflammation and arthritis, we can potentially use nutrition to diminish these changes and prevent this disorder.

Nutrigenomics can also help us focus on the area of “precision nutrition.” This is especially important when considering the unique nutritional challenges of different breeds and life stages of pets. For instance, if a breed of dog is predisposed to a disease like obesity, researchers can use genomics to determine what changes occur in gene activity with the onset of disease. They can then test different diets to see what nutritional strategies can prevent these changes in gene expression.

Even further, we can use nutrigenomics to identify the unique nutrient requirements of different breeds, life stages or activity levels of pets. We can then use the information gathered to design appropriate and precise diets to these specific aspects, which will help ensure our pets experience optimal health and well-being.

Is this the future of nutrition?

The more we understand about nutrition, the more we can use it in the way Hippocrates envisioned, as a tool to fight disease and maintain good health. While the idea of personalized nutrition for pets is still a long way off, research in the field of nutrigenomics makes steps toward this ultimate goal every day. Even more important is that every bit of data generated in this quest helps us feed our pets better and make steps toward optimal health through nutrition.

Want to learn more?

According to Dr. Mark Lyons, global vice-president and head of Greater China for Alltech, it takes courage and commitment to succeed in the Chinese market, where transparency is the new focus.

Along with other sectors, China’s agriculture, too, has been modernizing and mechanizing at an astonishing rate, with farm land consolidation creating larger farms and enabling implementation of new food safety and quality rules and a growing focus on the environment.