Higher yields, less fertiliser: Czechs developed new substance for farmers

From the lab to the store and the field. Scientists from the Laboratory of Growth Regulators, a joint facility of the Institute of Experimental Botany of the CAS and Palacký University in Olomouc, have prepared a new, highly effective plant growth stimulator called MTU. Under licence with a British partner, the product containing the patented Czech substance is already being sold to farmers in the UK. Next year, it will be available in other European countries, including the Czech Republic.

The biostimulant MTU, which is an abbreviation of its chemical name, significantly increases the resistance and yield of agricultural crops while not polluting the environment. The exclusive owner of the patents for it is the Institute of Experimental Botany of the CAS, which signed a licensing agreement with the British company Intracrop in February this year.

"MTU primarily prevents the disintegration of chlorophyll, thereby increasing its content in leaves. Treated crops are then better able to absorb carbon dioxide during photosynthesis, creating thus more energy-rich substances (sugars) that are used for faster root and stem growth. Plants are then better able to absorb water and the nutrients dissolved in it," says Jaroslav Nisler from the team that created the compound ten years ago.

Thanks to these qualities, MTU mitigates the effects of drought, heat, and other adverse conditions on plants. "And this is particularly useful today, when farmers more often struggle with the consequences of extreme weather events due to global climate change," adds the scientist.

Higher yields under normal conditions

The product, however, also stimulates plants under normal field conditions and significantly increases their yield. "For example, in field experiments with wheat in the Czech Republic in 2015-2017, MTU increased the average grain yield by 7%," says Jaroslav Nisler. Just a very small amount of the product needs to be used: half a gram of MTU per hectare in a 200-litre spray solution with water is sufficient.

The British license-holder Intracrop now sells MTU in Status, in which the company has combined MTU with the natural biostimulant, pidolic acid, to enhance its effect.

"We recommend applying Status in the spring and our experience has been that it increases yields in wheat, corn, oilseed rape and sunflower by between 5% and 15%. Feedback from UK farmers who have used it in this year's dry spring has been exceptionally positive," says Mark Palmer, the Intracrop director. "We are really excited, we see this biostimulant with such an effective single ingredient as the holy grail of the future," adds Palmer.

The substance is now manufactured in Germany, sold in the UK and will be on the market in the Czech Republic, Poland, and Hungary from 2023. Future sales are planned to expand to all EU countries, Ukraine, Turkey, Canada, and the USA.

Less nitrogen fertilisers, less field runoff

The new product could also help protect the environment. In fact, plants treated with MTU have an increased ability to use nitrogen fertilisers, which is another reason why they grow faster and produce more. In other words, they take up more nutrients from fertilisers into their organs, thus reducing nutrient leakage from the field into the surrounding ecosystem.

"According to our research, the new substance increases the uptake of nitrogen fertiliser by up to a quarter, which means that less needs to be applied to the field. For example, in a field experiment with corn, 15% less nitrogen was applied, with no yield loss. This is crucial both for meeting the Green Deal targets and in view of the current rocketing fertiliser prices," emphasises Jan Martinec, Director of the Institute of Experimental Botany of the CAS.

Food self-sufficiency and safety

For its potential environmental benefits in reducing fertiliser use, the new MTU biostimulator won an award in the US Next Gen Fertilizer Innovations Challenge in February 2022. The main organisers of the competition are two US government agencies: the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the US Department of Agriculture (USDA).

"The substance developed by Czech scientists has a demonstrable positive effect on plant growth, does not pollute the environment, and is cheap to produce - Czech science is thus contributing with another particular example to Europe's food self-sufficiency and security," emphasises Eva Zažímalová, President of the CAS.

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