b'MOLLY CADLE-DAVIDSONCHIEF SCIENCE OFFICER, ABMmollycadle-davidson@abm1st.comabm1st.comYour Own Personal Biological DictionaryI THINK ITSsafe to say that every industry is full of jargonIf youre looking at a formula with an inert ingredient, specific to one sector or another of their business. Its no differ- these arent the active ingredients. Instead, inert ingredi-ent in agriculture or, more specifically, biologicals. This may beent contributes to handling, shelf-life, formulation stabil-the most challenging part of the message Ive been deliveringity/uniformity, and other physical properties of a product.since day one: there is much misunderstanding when it comes to biologicals, and there is still much to learn.Dilution Plating: Verb. A microbiology technique that it One of the big challenges for this type of user is that there isused to determine the number of CFUs in a product. so much information on biologicals readily available from differ- Dilution plating a biological is something weve talked ent companies. When researching biologicals, it becomes less ofabout in our columns. When plating, a product is diluted the question How do I get this information? and more of Howin a very specific way, spread onto a nutrient medium in do I sift through this information? petri plates, and then incubated to allow for microbial To help you out, weve put together some commonly used(colony) growth. This helps us to determine the number biological terms to help you sift through information: of CFUs and ensure theyre working!Colony Forming Units (CFUs): Noun. These are the basicStrain: Noun. A genetically unique individual of an organism. particles of a biological from which more of that organismWeve talked about different strains of biologicals. can be grown. There is a widely available public strain of Trichoderma, When looking at biologicals, its important to lookcalled T-22. Different strains of a microbe are as different at not only the application rate, but the CFU level. Byfrom each other as one person is different from another.looking at both the CFU level and application rate, you can understand how many CFUs, or functional particles,Plant Growth Regulator: Noun. Regulated by the EPA, youre delivering to the seed.through physiological action, (it is) intended to accelerate or retard growth, or alter plant behavior or the produce of Scientific Notation: Scientific notation is a way ofthe plant. That is, a substance or microbe that changes a expressing numbers that are too large or too small to beplants growth rate or otherwise alters its yield. conveniently written in decimal form. For example: 10^2 isThis is different from most microbial biologicals because actually 10 x 10 = 100 or 10^6 equals 10x10x10x10x10x10 =microbes tend to assist plants with nutrient availability or 1,000,000. uptake, or disease mitigation.In terms of biologicals, it turns out that knowledge of this notation really important since we routinely thinkAtomization: Noun.[Also, to atomize (verb)]The con-about hundreds of thousands or millions of cells.version of a liquid into an aerosol.In Agriculture, atomization is achieved by the use of Active or AI: Noun. Active ingredient in a formulation; thehigh pressure nozzles, spinning discs and other equip-component of a product that confers the desired trait orment designed to deliver liquids in microscopic drop-performance.lets. This process is used to distribute seed treatments When you hear the term AI, does your mind immedi- uniformly across a seed flow or foliar sprays across the ately jump to artificial intelligence? Well, not in the chem- plant surface. istry or biological realm. Here, you need to be thinking of the active ingredients in a formula.When it comes down to it, learning this lingo will enable a much greater understanding of what biological products are Inert: Noun. All components or ingredients in a formula- available to growers today and in the future. And, if you ever tion that do not contribute to the desired trait or perfor- have any questions, make sure to reach out! Were always happy mance.to help. 34/ SEEDWORLD.COMINTERNATIONAL EDITION 2021'