Page 1 Page 2 Page 3 Page 4 Page 5 Page 6 Page 7 Page 8 Page 9 Page 10 Page 11 Page 12 Page 13 Page 14 Page 15 Page 16 Page 17 Page 18 Page 19 Page 20 Page 21 Page 22 Page 23 Page 24 Page 25 Page 26 Page 27 Page 28 Page 29 Page 30 Page 31 Page 32 Page 33 Page 34 Page 35 Page 36 Page 37 Page 38 Page 39 Page 40 Page 41 Page 42 Page 43 Page 44 Page 45 Page 46 Page 47 Page 48 Page 49 Page 50 Page 51 Page 52 Page 53 Page 54 Page 55 Page 56 Page 57 Page 58 Page 59 Page 60 Page 61 Page 62 Page 63 Page 64 Page 65 Page 66 Page 67 Page 68 Page 69 Page 70 Page 71 Page 72 Page 73 Page 74 Page 75 Page 76LEARNMORE To learn more about how seed treatments can help improve water use efficiency, join Seed World for a webinar March 9 at 1 p.m. Eastern. There is no cost to participate in the webinar. For more information and to register, visit SeedWorld.com/ webinar. SUPPORTED BY ENDORSED BY Battles actually spends a great deal of time near Phoenix, Ariz., where he can better regulate water man- agement for trial work. Under drought envi- ronments in Arizona, we observed at 128 days after planting a 12 to 17 percent increase in root biomass across different irrigation regimes as a result of using Cruiser, he says, noting that it allows the plant to more effectively take up available moisture and nutrients from the soil. In addition to getting a bigger root mass, Battles says by being able to access the water needed, plants canopy earlier, which leads to less evaporation and improved water management. Cotton growers in the southwest face water chal- lenges, too, but scientists at Texas A&M University have developed a seed treat- ment that may allow them to produce more fiber using the same amount of water. Greg Sword, a Texas A&M University entomologist, started the research that has since led to the development of Indigo Cotton, a commer- cially available seed treatment from Indigo Ag. Sword says that under some conditions, the yield can be as much as 10 percent higher than untreated crops and needs no special crop management inputs beyond a simple endophyte microbial coating of the seed. Endophytes are microbes that can live inside plants and are analogous to the microbes that live inside humans. Sword’s lab has shown that some endophytes can reduce pest pressure on cotton, as well. “My initial research focused on the important effects microbes could have in conferring resistance in cotton to insects and nema- todes and potentially affect cotton yields,” Sword says. “But I started to suspect that water stress was involved, and we conducted field trials showing increased yields were possible. This is what started getting the attention from industry in 2012-13.” Now, there are 50,000 acres planted with the Indigo Cotton treated with a microbe from Sword’s lab — most of it in the High Plains of Texas. In 2013, Texas A&M AgriLife Research, with assistance from Texas A&M Technology Commercialization, inked an exclusive licensing deal with Indigo to have the rights to commercialize the fungal endophytes from Sword’s lab. “Through joint research with Indigo, we began to find that many of the microbes ... were also having effects in conferring water stress resist- ance,” Sword says. Indigo has raised close to $156 million in private invest- ment funding so far, with $100 million of that from the most recent round of fun- draising, Sword says — the largest private equity fund- raising effort ever in the agri- cultural technology sector. Experts agree that seed treatments do help with water use efficiency, but they also agree that there’s no silver bullet. Growers need to take a comprehensive management approach. This includes genetics, traits, seed treatments and crop protec- tion throughout the entire growing season to get the best yields. “It’s critical to use a complete approach going forward,” Battles says. There’s early season stress and late season stress, and all relate to different functions. Clark says BASF offers an in-furrow biological, Xanthion, that creates a biofilm around the root hairs and increases moisture around the root surface, making water more available to the roots. He explains that one of the benefits of the biofilm is that it grows with the plant so has more of a residual effect than a synthetic chemistry. As we look at plants’ abil- ity to use the water that’s already in the ground, it’s clear the answer is tied to root health, as well as soil health. SW “My initial research focused on the important effects microbes could have in conferring resistnace ... But I started to suspect that water stress was involved.” — Greg Sword 28 / SEEDWORLD.COM FEBRUARY 2017