Soileos uses patented technology to prevent micronutrients from tying up in the soil
Protein Industries Canada and Lucent BioSciences based out in Canada have recently announced that Lucent BioScience’s Soileos fertilizer helps increase yield in crops, while also contributing to both soil and human health.
Announced in March 2020and developed as part of a project funded through a co-investment by Lucent BioSciences, AGT Food and Ingredients, and Protein Industries Canada, Lucent’s technology supports whole-seed utilization by converting the hulls of lentil and pea seeds of AGT Food and Ingredients into fertilizer. Overall, it reduces waste in the value-added processing stream while widening the market for plant-protein crop co-products.
This year, field trials using Soileos were performed on fruit, vegetable, and broad-acre crops across Canada with the inclusion of AGT’s co-product. Soileos showed promising results in each crop type tested. Tests on broad-acre crops showed an increase in yields of up to 20 per cent and stand count improvement of up to 35 per cent per meter squared. Tests on vegetables, meanwhile, showed yield improvements of up to 45 per cent and micronutrient density improvements up to 50 per cent, including in iron, zinc, and manganese.
Soileos uses patented technology to prevent micronutrients from tying up in the soil and keeping nutrients bioavailable to plants during the full life cycle. This allows crops to take in Soileos’ nutrients at an optimal rate while leaving soil-benefiting carbon behind while reducing a farmer’s potential environmental footprint. The overall process benefits both the crop and the soil, making the fertilizer carbon-neutral.
