Agricultural biostimulants: advances and perspectives

Agricultural biostimulants reduce the need for fertilizers maintaining the good performance of the plant's vital processes and allowing high yields and good quality products. The three main functions of biostimulants applied to plants are: to enhance nutrition efficiency, to increase abiotic stress tolerance and to improve plant quality traits, regardless of its nutrient contents.

Agricultural biostimulant functions

Biostimulants have been shown to act on many factors affecting plant growth, such as root growth, root diameter, soil water holding capacity, increased microbial activity leading to increased nutrient availability and many more. However, most of the time the responses are highly variable. They depend on climate, soil type, organic matter content, tillage system and type of crop rotation.

Agricultural biostimulants vs biofertilizers

A biostimulant is a product that helps enhance the plant's growth. It does not serve nutrient deficiency. Instead, it increases nutrient availability, water holding capacity, metabolism, and chlorophyll production. According to the AEFA (Spanish Association of Agronutrients Manufacturers) biostimulants are defined as those active substances that aim to improve the plant's nutrient adsorption mechanisms, while fertilizers are those active substances that aim to provide nutrients to plants.

Biofertilizers also differ from biostimulants in the fact that they do not improve tolerance to biotic stress (where plant cannot sustain its normal growth due to the interaction with deleterious microorganisms - fungi, bacteria, viruses, viroids, phytoplasma, and nematodes).

Advantages of the use of agricultural biostimulants

Biostimulants are natural crop enhancers. This fact implicitly indicates the great advantage that this type of substance offers us: the decrease in the massive use of fertilizers, replacing them with biostimulants.

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Photo Courtesy of Futureco Bioscience

Source: Futureco Bioscience