Despite being delicious and popular among Canadians, strawberries came in fifth place in terms of marketable production, behind apples, cranberries, blueberries, and grapes. The strawberry industry has experienced significant growth, making strawberries high-value commodities that will be Canada’s next lucrative crop. Our goals are that strawberry growers should be able to boost both the quality and yield of their crop while also cutting back on the usage of synthetic fertilizers. Increasing yield and reducing synthetic fertilizer could potentially give positive economic impacts (increase profit and save money) as well as sustainability impacts (reduce chemicals use).
Nutrienvisus’ products: Enviotin® (plant nutrient) and Enviotics® (plant probiotics)
Nutrienvisus’ products support precision growing to get reproducible results and improve production to maximize yield and profit. Enviotin® product is an innovative plant nutrient made from brewery byproducts. Enviotin® has the function as a prebiotic, stimulating the growth of native microbes in growth media. While Enviotics® product is a consortium of Bacillus plant probiotics. Excellent plant nutrition and beneficial microbes are key components for efficient and successful plant growth! The products can be used on various plants, such as: flowers, fruits, vegetables, and herbs. Our products can be used as a supplement to improve their current production or as an alternative product to reduce the use of synthetic chemicals.
Field Trials at Kwantlen Polytechnic University Confirm Enviotin® and Enviotics®'s Benefits for Strawberry Plants.
Nutrienvisus and KPU teams are dedicated to finding the added value of Nutrienvisus’s products by testing combinations of Enviotin® and/or Enviotics® with the grower’s standard fertilizer. This project was led by Dr. Henderson, and it was funded by the NSERC grant (Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada).
Strawberry planting: growth conditions
Young strawberry (Murano variety) plants and growth media (coco coir) were provided by Delta View Farm, a strawberry indoor producer, Delta, British Columbia. The plants were grown in the climate-controlled environment using following growth conditions:
- Light regimes: 16/8 h photoperiod/darkness
- A photosynthetic photon flux density (PPFD): 260 μmol m-2 s-1
- Day temperature: 20oC
- Night temperature: 15oC
- Relative humidity: 60-65%
- Pollination: wind pollination
- Plant nutrition combinations/treatments were used:
- Standard Grower Fertilizers (SGF) with an EC of 1.2 (100% SGF)
- SGF with an EC of 0.6 (50% SGF) + Enviotin®
- SGF with an EC of 0.6 (50% SGF) + Enviotin® + Enviotics®
Plant nutrition was applied at the planting time and then weekly. The full strength (100%) of standard grower fertilizers has an EC of 1.2 ms/cm and a pH of 6.1, with a composition of nutrients as follows: N (74 ppm), P (32 ppm), K (70 ppm), Ca (65 ppm), Mg (40 ppm), S (54 ppm), Fe (0.9 ppm), Mg (0.55 ppm), Zn (0.33 ppm), Cu (0.05 ppm), B (0.1 ppm), Mo (0.1 ppm). For the weekly treatment, we use the same dosages of plant nutrients, except Enviotin®. Enviotin® was mixed with growth media; the final concentration was 1%. The concentration of Enviotin® for weekly application was reduced to 0.0125% (top-dressing). Enviotics is a consortium of Bacillus species (plant probiotics). The product is designed to enrich root microbiomes and can be used on a variety of crops such as: ornamentals, vegetables, and fruits. The product comes in powder form, and liquid applications can be made by diluting it with water or a final concentration of standard growth fertilizers.
Increase Yields: Flowers & Fruits
Every strawberry plant developed into a healthy plant. The growth percentage of flowers and fruits increase linearly from day o to day 84 after transplanting.
Table 1. Growth percentage of flowers and fruits from day 0 to day 84.
Fourteen days after transplanting, all strawberry plants entered the flowering and fruiting stages (Table 1). Overall, we observed an increase in the growth percentage (up to 3X) of flowers & fruits in the presence of Enviotin® and/or Enviotics® in comparison to the control. The total fruits of the treated plants using Enviotin® and/Enviotics® increased in comparison to the control:
- 26% in the 50% SGF+Enviotin®
- 27% in the 50% SGF+Enviotin® +Enviotics®
In this trial, we can observe the potential use of Enviotin® and/or Enviotics® to complement or reduce the use of synthetic fertilizers.
Taste and Flavour of Strawberries
The statistical analysis showed no significant difference of sugar content or pH. However, it was observed that strawberries from the treated plants with Enviotin® and/or Enviotics® had a better flavour (aroma and taste). The average sugar content and pH can be seen in the table below.
Table 2. Sugar content and pH of strawberries from this trial.
Other parameters observed: leaves, runners, and roots.
We observed the growth rate of trifoliate leaf area were linearly increasing, and at day 84 after transplanting, we can see significant increase of leaf size in comparison to the control (100% SGF):
- 31% in the 50% SGF+Enviotin®
- 65% in the 50% SGF+Enviotin® +Enviotics®
All tested plant nutrition did not significantly increase the number of runners. Number of runners were between 5 to 7 per plant, with the 50% SGF+Enviotin+Enviotics exhibited the greatest runner count (average 7 runners per plant), when compared to the control (5 runners per plant). Their rotting system can be seen below:
Increase Fresh & Premium Strawberries to Maximize Profit
The trials offered alternative ways for potential increase yield in the strawberry production. Growers can reduce the use of synthetic fertilizers by 50%, they can replace the other 50% with Enviotin® (1% at the planting, and then 0.0125% for weekly treatment). Then, growers can improve nutritional availability and uptake by adding plant probiotics (Enviotics®).
In conclusion, we offered two approaches for strawberry production that can be easily applied into their current strawberry production.
- Producers can increase their sales and profitability by minimising their usage of chemicals in their production such as: synthetic fertilizer, and other chemicals, i.e.: pesticides. Today’s market demands less chemical usage to grow crops. By improving plant health and microbiomes, we expect that plants will build a better immune system, and naturally fight against diseases.
- Better yield would increase their profit if the market were available to purchase their products.
Although the trials were performed in a growth chamber (indoor), Enviotin® and Enviotics® can also be used for outdoor production.
For more information on our Enviotin and Enviotics, please email us at info@nutrienvisus.com and WhatsApp to 604 401 1722.