Biostimulants in blueberry: how to improve harvest yield

Blueberry cultivation demands high yields to guarantee the profitability and viability of agricultural holdings. However, achieving this objective is a complex challenge due to its physiological limitations, such as a fairly shallow root system and a notable sensitivity to abiotic stresses or other challenging conditions that halt its growth.

In this context, the main headache for growers every season involves maximizing the holding’s yield, which translates into values such as productivity, the number of kilograms, or production magnitudes.

In this highly demanding scenario, the strategic use of agricultural biostimulants emerges as the indispensable tool to optimize its metabolism and ensure a quality harvest.

The great challenge: the coexistence of different phenological stages

Unlike other species with more defined cycles, the blueberry presents a physiological peculiarity that demands an enormous energetic effort. Different phenological stages coexist simultaneously on the same plant. During a single season, in which approximately between 5 and 8 staggered harvests can be carried out on mature bushes, it is common to find flowers opening, newly set fruits in full enlargement, and berries ready for harvest at the same time.

This overlapping of metabolic stages generates extreme internal competition for photoassimilates, with flowers and fruits that can coincide at their peak of maximum energy demand. If we add environmental stress factors such as wind, frosts, high temperatures, or severe UV radiation to this constant tension, the plant suffers oxidative wear that accelerates senescence and slows down productivity.

Physiological synergy for a continuous energy engine

To overcome this constant demand for resources, plant biostimulation acts directly on the efficiency and balance of the crop. SeiZen is a metabolic activator developed by the company Seipasa to raise the potential of crops to their maximum level.

SeiZen prepares the plant for challenging situations and those of greater energy demand, acting as a physiological improver: it stimulates cell division, growth, and differentiation, and allows for the improvement of crop yield.

In other words, SeiZen helps the plant maintain homeostasis—that is, that stable internal balance that allows it to continue functioning in a productive mode.

SeiZen is a tool that acts at the metabolic base to boost the efficient generation of cellular energy. It also prevents the formation and accumulation of toxic substances in the crop and prevents senescence from being activated at its origin.

And how do we improve the yield per plant in blueberry?

In blueberry, this translates into more sprouting, more flowers per branch, and a new way of preparing the crop to better express its potential.

We see this in Graph 1, relative to the efficacy trial developed by Seipasa in blueberry, in which we can observe both the intervention of the product to minimize physiological drop and its potential to produce a greater number of fruitful shoots. That is to say, in the face of demanding environmental conditions, SeiZen prevents the premature drop of flowers and improves fruit retention.

Graph 1.- Number of fruitful shoots in blueberry.

All of this translates into a higher yield per plant which, in the case of Graph 2, is 18% higher in the case of SeiZen when compared to the reference treatment. In this specific case, the trial consisted of 2 applications of SeiZen on young saplings under 3 years old.

Graph 2.- Yield per plant in blueberry.

Developed from the innovative PK-Tech technology, which is patent-pending, SeiZen incorporates anti-senescence molecules (ASM), designed to act at the cellular level by neutralizing oxygen free radicals, protecting photosystem II against oxidative damage.

With SeiZen, Seipasa places the ultimate technology in the grower’s hands to keep the blueberry’s energy factory active throughout the entire cycle and prevent the plant from declining in the face of the most challenging conditions or episodes of greatest energy demand.