A BIOSTIMULANT that improves the quality of fruit and vegetable yields whilst relieving stress has been officially launched in the UK by Arysta LifeScience.

BM Start, already successful throughout Europe, is a liquid formulation based on Physio Activator Technology, which improves plant health and the marketable yield of the crop.

This includes improving fertilisation with better fruit setting, increasing the number of fruits and fruit size, improving the uniformity of the fruit, whilst alleviating stress and limiting flower drop.

The product contains GA142, an active ingredient found in seaweed harvested in North Brittany where the tides are some of the highest in the world. The GA142 is extracted within 24 hours using a unique cold manufacturing process to retain the active characteristics of fresh seaweed and to ensure a consistently high quality product.

This active unlocks nutrients in the soil which may otherwise be unavailable to the plant, whilst stimulating the enzymes that enhance plant root growth. Fertilisation is improved and cell division is stimulated, trials have shown that this can result in yield benefits of 10-15% and an increase in top size category of 8-15%.

Arysta LifeScience Technical Lead for Vegetables, Alison Casey, said: “We are delighted to be officially launching BM Start in the UK, a complementary product that works alongside traditional crop protection techniques.

“Maintaining plant health is vital in enabling farmers to produce an efficient crop, and that is essentially what BM Start does – improves the plant’s overall health and ability to achieve its potential yield. “Biostimulants and the biosolutions market make a considerable contribution to the sustainable agriculture agenda, and we are proud to be developing our portfolio to include more of these products.”

BM Start has a wide range of applications, including fruit trees, grapes, berries and fruiting vegetables both in indoors and outdoors. It is compatible with most insecticides, fungicides, PGRs and fertilisers with a dose rate of 2 L/ha.

Used in conjunction with other crop protection methods, biostimulants can have a positive effect on the marketable crop yield, meaning less food waste and improved profitability.

Arysta LifeScience will be showcasing the benefits of BM Start and other biostimulant products at various events across the country throughout the year.