Inoculants
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Inoculant formulation, manufacturing and marketing takes many forms around the world. Large scale producers in North America and Australia manufacture and package products to meet the needs of large mechanized farm operations. Compatibility with sophisticated seeders and the need to quickly get inoculants onto seed when seed boxes are refilled present entirely different formulation challenges than those faced by inoculant producers in developing regions.
While many inoculant production facilities in developing countries are small, some produce more than 100 tonnes/year and are highly automated. Inoculant producers in developing countries face significant problems in developing markets among small farmers with poor access to information and where markets for other agricultural inputs are not highly developed. Inoculant package size, cost of carrier material and shelf life problems in high temperature environments and other factors have led to an enormous variety of production methods and marketing strategies in developing countries.
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Soybean inoculant manufactured in N. America. Inoculant manufactured with non- sterile finely ground, neutralized peat carrier. Inoculant is applied to seed.
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Granular inoculant manufactured for direct application into the seed bed. This formulation is preferred when there are heavy applications of fungicide to the seed, when soil temperatures are high or when germination of seed is delayed for some time by dry soil.
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Peat based inoculant (sterile carrier) with sticking agent added.
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Liquid inoculant for soybean. Valve mechanism used to apply inoculant to seed while seed flows through seed auger on the way to the seed hopper of the planter.
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Safti-Pak. This patented design ensures farmers can obtain the highest quality inoculants even when transported and stored in adverse environments. The top compartment of the bag is inoculated with the culture (sterile peat based carrier). The bottom compartment contains uninoculated sterile peat at a moisture content that supports growth of the culture. The farmer or agriculture input dealer removes the plastic clip separating the top and bottom compartments and then mixes their contents. Populations of the top compartment can fall to 1000 viable cells/g (a useless inoculant) during storage but when mixed with the bottom compartment the entire inoculant will again attain a population greater than 1 X 109 cells/g after a 7-10 day incubation period.
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Inoculants from Indonesia. These packets weigh 30 g and are suitable for inoculating about 0.1 ha or less. Carrier is sterilized and culture is diluted before injection into the bag.
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Charcoal carrier based inoculant from India
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Gamma irradiated peat based inoculant from Thailand manufactured by the dilution method.
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Advertising poster of Thai inoculant.
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| When inoculant is applied to seed with sticking agents survival of cells after inoculation is sometimes enhanced. |
