Pittsburg, Pennsylvania
July 4, 2008
Plant Health Care
(AIM: PHC.L), a leading provider of natural products for plants
and soil announces that the United States Department of
Agriculture, Agricultural Research Service (USDA-ARS) has found
that a soil constituent known as glomalin and produced by
beneficial vesicular arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (VAM) locks up
soil carbon. VAM development and colonisation of plant roots is
known to be stimulated by Plant Health Care’s Myconate®. The
findings on glomalin come from research conducted by Kristine
Nichols, a microbiologist at the USDA-ARS in Mandan, North
Dakota. The report is based in part on carbon-dating studies of
glomalin.
Dr. Greg Lewis, Vice President, Corporate Development at Plant
Health Care says: "VAM fungi act as a secondary plant root
system, increasing a crop’s ability to access and use available
moisture and nutrients. By taking advantage of these known
benefits of VA mycorrhizal fungi, growers can now not only
improve the performance of their crops and enhance soil
fertility, they may also be able to contribute to the long-term
reduction of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. Our Myconate
product has been shown to encourage the development of VAM fungi
in a growing number of agricultural crops.”
Glomalin is a sticky substance secreted by threadlike fungal
structures called hyphae that funnel nutrients and water to
plant roots. It is named after the Glomerales, the group of
fungi to which some VAM fungi belong. So far, VAM fungi appear
to be the only producers of glomalin.
Greg Lewis added, "Plant Health Care has known for some time the
benefits of mycorrhizal fungi, including the Glomerales, to
plants and the soil and it is most encouraging to see the ARS
document that these same organisms can contribute to carbon
storage in soils. The ARS suggests that glomalin can keep carbon
from decomposing for up to100 years. This is significant for the
reduction of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere."
Plant Health Care offers the product Myconate, which stimulates
the colonization of plants by native VAM fungi already present
in the soil. Myconate offers the potential to increase yields
and tests are underway to determine if the expanded root mass
observed on Myconate-treated crops will allow for a reduction in
irrigation and nutritional inputs as well. Preliminary on-farm
trials have shown very promising results in row crops, cereals
and several vegetable crops such as carrots, potatoes and
celery. Other potential crops being studied include perennials
like fruits and vines and more vegetable crops like peppers,
tomatoes and cucurbits. Myconate can be applied to a seed or
watered into the ground very easily via irrigation systems.
Myconate’s net effect is to stimulate the colonization of native
VAM soil fungi on plant roots, improving a crop’s ability to
access moisture and nutrients.
Myconate®, ProAct®, N-Hibit® PHC, and the Plant Health Care,
Inc. logo are trademarks of Plant Health Care, Inc.
"Glomalin is Key to Locking up Soil Carbon" By Don Comis was
published on June 17, 2008 on the USDA-ARS website at
www.ars.usda.gov/is/pr/2008/080617.htm?pf=1
Plant Health Care plc is a leading provider of natural
products for plants and soil. Established in 1995 in Pittsburgh
(Pennsylvania) in the United States, PHC currently has
approximately 70 employees and has operations in the United
States, Mexico, the United Kingdom, Spain, and the Netherlands.
The Company listed on the AIM market of the London Stock
Exchange in July 2004. Ticker symbol is PHC.
PHC’s products are aimed at the landscape, agriculture and land
reclamation industries and are environmentally beneficial.
Through the commercialization of these products, PHC is
capitalizing on current long-term trends toward natural systems
and biological products for plant care and soil and water
management. |
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