No-tillers have another tool to consider using with their soybean crops. Nitragin Inc., a manufacturer of legume innoculants, has introduced Optimize, a soybean growth promoter. According to Nitragin, soybeans treated with Optimize delivered an average yield increase of 3.5 bushels per acre over 3 years of testing.

Nitragin says Optimize accelerates and enhances early season soybean vigor by maximize nitrogen supply, thus helping soybeans reach their maximum protein and oil content, spurs root growth and early canopy closure.

“Optimize stimulates the nodulation process independent of temperature. As a result, it is very effective when used with early planting, and in the cooler soil of conservation tillage systems,” according to the Nitragin announcement.

Optimize is applied as a seed treatment with the company’s Cell-Tech liquid innoculant by local custom applicators. Optimize is compatible with popular fungicide seed treatments and remains effective for 30 days.

OTHER NO-TILL NEWS...

• Monsanto is applying conventional breeding and biotechnology techniques to the development of soybeans that would produce oil containing less trans and saturated fats. The goal is to use conventional breeding techniques to produce soybeans that are low in linoleic acid and to develop a high oelic acid soybean. The company will also apply biotechnology to the development of a new type of soybean that would produce a trans and saturated fat-free soy oil, the first natural oil that could make the claim to be saturated fat-free.
• BASF Corporation has been ordered by the Minnesota Supreme Court to pay $52 million to U.S. farmers. The…