PGRO have conducted trials testing a range of biostimulants on spring beans, vining peas and combining peas in seasons from 2018 to 2021.
In summary, Take-off ST, Phorce and Serenade showed a small consistent benefit to yield over all trials in both peas and beans. Phorce demonstrated significant suppression of downy mildew in beans but not peas.
Read the full reports at https://www.pgro.org/research-publications/
Pulses are leguminous crops harvested for dry protein-rich seed, with peas (pisum sativum) and beans (vicia faba) being the major crops in the UK.
Biostimulants are increasingly available and are now widely marketed to farmers. While the jury is still out on a definitive definition, most definitions of biostimulants explain that they should stimulate plant nutrition processes independently of the product’s nutrient content with the aim of improving one or more of the following characteristics: nutrient efficiency, tolerance to abiotic stress, and/or quality.
As the UK's centre of excellence for peas and beans, the PGRO has a long and highly valued track record of providing authoritative, up to date information and project work based on solid, reliable research.
Field beans (vicia faba) are a widely grown break crop across the UK on around 170,000 ha.
Peas (pisum sativum) are grown either for combining dry seed (combining peas) or harvesting fresh as a vegetable or for freezing (vining peas).
