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"In Defense of Wheat": Farm Industry News on T-22 from ABM
March 3, 2009
Farm Industry News, February 2009 – Lynn Grooms
"At current wheat prices, the cost of biological and chemical wheat seed treatments is the price of just one bushel. Chemical seed treatments provide a relatively high degree of control against seed-borne and soil-borne diseases for seven to ten days, which helps seeds and emerging seedlings.
An advantage to T-22, a hybrid strain of Trichoderma harzianum, is that the fungi colonize on the plant's roots and grow throughout the life of the crop, says Gary Harman, plant pathologist, Cornell University, who developed the strain. Today, the T-22 biological seed treatment is produced by Advanced Biological Marketing, Van Wert, OH.
ABM notes that T-22 protects roots from Pythium, Rhizoctonia and Fusarium and that it enhances nutrient utilization and nitrogen utilization. The biological could help reduce nitrogen applications in wheat, Harman says, adding, 'That alone would pay for seed treatment'"
