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AgriBoost™
Soil Amendment: A Multitude of Benefits for Plants and
the Environment
AgriBoost™ is an all-natural mineral soil amendment
that provides many benefits to plants, growers, and
the environment. It has proven its enhancing effects
on plant growth in potting mixes, golf green root zone
mixes, and in natural soil. At the same time, AgriBoost™
helps in reducing the environmental impact of fertilization,
and conserves natural as well as economic resources.
Qualities and Benefits
AgriBoost™ is a mineral material crushed to medium
sand size. Unlike plantbased amendments like peat or
compost, it will not decompose, shrink or compact over
time.
AgriBoost™ has a high water-holding capacity,
and most of this held water is plant-available. In a
study of soil amendments for golf putting greens at
the Universityof Wisconsin-Madison, only peat moss held
more plant-available water. This water retention helps
to prevent leaching and increases plant water use efficiency.
Researchers at the National Center for Agricultural
Research and Technology Transfer (NCARTT) in Jordan
in conjunction with the University of Science &
Technology of Jordan tested AgriBoost™ for tomato
production in regular soil. Compared to the control,
AgriBoost™ reduced the amount of water needed
to grow 1kg of tomatoes by over 27%. This means a big
savings in irrigation water, or an increase in the area
that can be
irrigated with a given amount of water.
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AgriBoost™ has a very high cation exchange
capacity (CEC): 20 cmol kg-1 for divalent cations
like calcium (Ca) and magnesium (Mg), 93 cmol
kg-1 for potassium (K) and ammonium (NH4 +); Sodium
(Na), which is detrimental to plants, is retained
very little. CEC is theability to hold certain
plant nutrients in a plant-available form but
protects them from leaching. Most zeolite products
get their CEC from the mineral Clinoptilolite,
which in pure form has a CEC of 254 cmol kg-1.
AgriBoost™’s zeolite isPhillipsite,
with a much higher CEC of 387 cmol kg-1. The high
ion selectivity for K+ and NH4 + over Ca2+ and
Mg2+ was discovered in the Wisconsin and other
studies. This selective and very high cation exchange
capacity is the basis for
increased fertilizer efficiency with K and N fertilizers.
It also allows the use of irrigation waters high
in soluble Ca, Mg, and Na, such as water from
sewage treatment plants.
AgriBoost™ added to soil or
potting media has een proven to result in larger
plants, faster growth, and higher nutrient uptake
in two studies by the Swiss Research Institute
of Organic Agriculture (FiBL). These studies compared
various potting media
with and without AgriBoost™. The research
done by NCARTT and the University of Science &
Technology in Jordan demonstrated earlier growth
and more flowering, higher yield, and better fruit
quality, with the use of AgriBoost™. |
AgriBoost™ provides a reservoir of micronutrients
due to its unique mineralogy. Aside from the zeolite
Phillipsite, it contains palagonite, olivine,
and other minerals that slowly release micronutrients
over time. This is an advantage especially in
subtropical and tropical soils that are highly
weathered and very low in soilorganic matter.
Patent applications have been filed on AgriBoost™,
an unadulterated natural, nontoxic
Jordanian product. It is r e c o v e r e d t h
r o u g h
environmentally friendly technology without the
use of
scarce water and other natural resources of Jordan.
The Organic Materials Research Institute in the
US has
approved these facts by certifying AgriBoost™
for “organic” use (OMRI Listed).
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AgriBoost™ Advantages for
Arid Regions
The composition of the root zone medium in which landscape
plants grow becomes especially important under fully
irrigated conditions in arid climates. To be most effective,
irrigation water needs to be able to infiltrate rapidly
into the root zone. Slow infiltration leads to ponding
on the surface, runoff, and evaporation. In each case,
the water is lost without benefiting the plants. AgriBoost™
helps increase and maintain the
infiltration rate of a soil because of its sand-like
texture. Once in the root zone, irrigation water should
be prevented from draining away but held lightly enough
for uptake by plant roots. AgriBoost™ has a high
water-holding capacity, and plant roots can easily access
this held water. In one gram of AgriBoost™, the
channels provide up to several hundred square meters
of surface area on which chemical reactions can take
place.
AgriBoost™ Summary
AgriBoost™ selectively holds the
two most important plant nutrients Nitrogen and Potassium,
avoids excesses of Calcium and Magnesium, and rejects
detrimental Sodium. AgriBoost™ has a high capacity
to hold plant-available water, and it lets water infiltrate
easily. Its unique mineral composition provides a long-term
supply of micronutrients to plants. Since AgriBoost™
is an all-natural mineral material, it does not degrade
and retains these properties for many years. There is
no other soil amendment available today that provides
this combination of benefits. It would take several
conventional products to mimic AgriBoost™,
however, the cost would be much higher and performance
would still be less effective and enduring.
AgriBoost™
Questions?
Additional technical information, the actual results
of the studies mentioned, and recommendations for the
use of AgriBoost™ for specific crops and applications
are available on request. Please do not hesitate to
visit our website or contact ASI Specialities directly
if you have any questions regarding AgriBoost™.
All research is sponsored
by ASI Specialities, Ltd. and all rights are reserved.
Any use of this information without the expressed written
consent of ASI Specialities, Ltd. is prohibited.
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