Bio-Prime®:

We sell “Do It Yourself” Seed Treatment material to farmers.

What is the purpose of Bio-Priming Seed?

I. 20-40% higher yields.
II. 20-40% increased plant hardiness and stress handling ability in drought/cold/heat.
III. 20-40% improved seed/fruit quality.

The first stage of Biological Priming of seed is discussed on this www.bioprime.co.za webpage in detail, with its logic chain, value chain and background. There is a Second stage Seed Coating Phase, which is continued on www.vermicoat.com for second stage coating.

Introduction to Biological Priming of Seed:

Bio-Priming is when a farmer adds living Microbes into water, and have dry seed suck up the moisture and biology into the endosperm, so that the Microbes live inside the seed. The seed is only partially germinated during this process in preparation for planting. The seed has enough moisture for the microbes to live, but it is dry enough for commercial planting. Upon germination, these microbes interact with soil microbes, greatly improving nutrient uptake efficiency. Bio-Priming improves plant growth due to better microbial nutrient acquisition and more efficient plant nutrient uptake.

Seed Germination water requirement:

Mature seed are often extremely dry and need to absorb, through a process of imbibition, a significant quantity of water, relative to the dry weight of the seed. Generally, the minimum water content required in the grain for germination is 35% to 45% by weight.

During Bio-Priming and Seed Coating we typically add 10-20% water (roughly 50% of what is needed for full germination). This means that after planting a seed only required the other 50% water for the germination process to complete. As such, germination happens quicker.

Seed Priming:

“Seed priming is a controlled hydration technique in which seeds are soaked in a water solution to a point where germination related metabolic activities begin in the seeds but radical emergence does not occur.”

Definition of Seed Priming
Seed priming process as related to seed water content. Priming consists of partial seed imbibition to a point where germination (phase II, germination sensu stricto) occurs but is not completed by radicle growth. The moisture content of the seeds is maintained during priming at 10–20% fresh weight basis, corresponding to about 50% of the moisture content that allow radicle growth. During phase I (imbibition), controlled water uptake allows protein synthesis and induces respiratory activity. Phase II is associated to various physiological, biochemical and molecular activities such as protein synthesis, respiratory activity, metabolism of soluble sugars and repair processes, but the radicle emergence is prevented.
The benefit of general Seed Priming is that Germination is much quicker as only a little bit of moisture is required to fully complete the germination process. This means that the treated crop germinates before weeds and competition enabling a head start early season.
Advantages of Seed Priming -the ability to emerge first in the race for sunlight and nutrients.
The seeds on the left did not all get enough moisture for full germination, unlike those on the right.
Seed can be primed to 95% of its germination requirement.
Osmotic Priming typically speed up germination using chemical stumulation.
Solid Matrix Priming is typically to slow down germination so that only very large rainfall events trigger germination when there is a lot of soil moisture.
We use Bio-Priming to increase yield, quality and stress handling capability by locating Microbes inside and on top of the seed.
Bio-Priming is mostly used to prevent disease. It is an approach to positively dominate the seed with good microbes so that pathogens do not get any foothold, and to have the microbes acquire nutrients and feed and protect the plant.

What do we use Bio-priming for in South African Commercial Agriculture?

I. Chemical/Mineral Fertilizer and pesticide use is bad for soil microbial life.
II. We use Bio-Prime® to restore Soil Microbial Diversity and Soil Function -it is a form of regenerative agriculture restoring biodiversity unto every single seed in order that the plant is able to take up the maximum amount of nutrients available in the full soil profile.
III. It means that just as crop-rotation is good for soil microbes, as just as minimum-till and no-till is good for soil structure, so Bio-Priming is another tool to improve soil health and soil function thanks to a complete diverse microbial population of soil bacteria and fungi.

The greatest cause of low soil fertility in agricultural soils are because of long-term herbicide and chemical fertilizer use lead to a loss of soil microbial diversity and thus less soil function. This leads to low nutrient use efficiency -with plants unable to fully make use of all the mineral fertilizer given because of a lack of soil microbes able to make nutrient plant available.

Bio-Priming is a form of microbial inoculation of seed which restores soil microbial diversity, re-enables full soil function by putting the life back into the soil. If you have dead soil, you need to Bio-Prime® the life back into it.

What Happens when you Bio-Prime® any type of Seeds?

I. You increase the Microbial Biodiversity; restoring back the specific type of soil bacteria and fungi which pesticide and mineral fertilizer kills specifically. This enables biological trading and acquisition of plant available nutrients from all the other soil microbes, especially those microbes in the deeper layers where there is more leached moisture and nutrients.
II. You thus increase the nutrient use efficiency, because putting back the missing microbes required for trade re-enables the plant to acquire and fully take up more of the nutrients in the soil.
III. The added microbes restores soil function, typically by making existing nutrients available in a plant available form.

Bio-Priming is a Nature Based Solution whereby In-soil earthworm microbes (bacteria and fungi) are used to inoculate seed. It is a form of “consortium priming” whereby hundreds of Billions of Microbes are used from all different earthworm classes in the full soil profile, in order to restore Soil Microbial Biodiversity for full on biological trade to a deep soil depth.
Benefits of Consortium Bio-Priming.

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/355104447_Seed_bio-priming_with_microbial_inoculants_A_tailored_approach_towards_improved_crop_performance_nutritional_security_and_agricultural_sustainability_for_smallholder_farmers/link/616ff451750da711ac5a4518/download

Commercial benefits of Bio-priming with different Plant Growth Promoting Rhizobacteria over different crops. You can use Bio-Prime® with any crop and any type of seed.

Negative Impact of active herbicide ingredients on Soil Microbial Diversity and Function:

Glyphosate:

Glufosinate:

 

Research Background and further downloads:

https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/19/5/3141

Long term use of Pesticides, Herbicides, Fungicides and mineral fertilizers thus leads to a loss of soil microbial diversity without the farmer even being aware. Bio-Prime® restores the missing biology back into the soil and plant Rhizophere.

 

With restored soil microbial diversity the plant is able to handle stress of all types again. This relates to 20-40% increased plant hardiness.
The reason existing seed companies do not do Seed priming is because it shortens the seed longevity and amount of time which seeds can be kept in storage, from years to months or weeks. With our Do-it-Yourself Bio-Prime® Vermicoat® process this is not an issue because you Prime, Coat and Plant within days if not weeks. The shorter the period between priming and planting the higher the microbial population and the bigger the beneficial effect.

What we do is to place the exact right Seed Priming and Coating material into the farmers hands for on farm priming, just prior to planting. This restores soil biology and triggers yield gains.
Read More: Section 2 >>

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