A unique bacillus-based seed treatment promises to help improve the establishment and early development of spring cereals. CPM investigates the benefits of new innovation, Surge.
“Nutrient supply from a seed treatment can help plants to overcome stressors and promote resilience.” ROBERT HAWKIN
By Janine Adamson
While autumn cereal plantings have been on the whole more positive this season, the rotational benefits of spring cropping remain, whether that’s for weed control, to access specific markets, or to enable the integration of cover crops.
However, it’s widely acknowledged that one of the main stumbling blocks of spring cropping can be establishment during inclement conditions, meaning germination and getting crops up and away as quickly as possible are paramount.
According to Fielder’s Robert Hawkin, there are wide-ranging challenges associated with the early stages of plant growth during the spring season. “For one, spring crops often face cooler soil temperatures and slower nutrient mineralisation rates. Depending on the weather conditions over winter, soils may also exhibit nutrient imbalances due to leaching, nutrient immobilisation, or uneven distribution.”
He adds that young spring plantings can be more vulnerable to environmental stressors such as cold temperatures and nutrient deficiencies during the early stages of growth. “With all of these factors in mind, adequate nutrient supply from a seed treatment can help plants to overcome these stressors, promoting resilience while providing a direct supply of essential nutrients to the germinating seed and emerging seedling.
“This supports the development of a strong and healthy root system, allowing the plant to efficiently absorb water and nutrients from the soil, be healthy, and potentially lead to improved crop yields,” he explains.
Launched earlier this year by Fielder, Surge is a seed treatment that combines bacillus with manganese, and is aimed at boosting crop establishment and early plant development. Robert says this makes for an ideal combination when it comes to aiding spring crops.
Perhaps critically, how the seed treatment works is, bacillus are spore-forming bacteria that colonise the root surface on germination and form a symbiotic relationship with the plant. This supports crop development in the following ways: by promoting early root development for better access to water and nutrients; enhancing nutrient availability, particularly phosphorus, through solubilisation processes; and supporting plant resilience to stress conditions by improving root-soil interaction and stimulating natural defence pathways.
Robert points out that a key differentiator is that the bacillus in Surge has been evaluated for both physical and chemical compatibility with common seed treatments including fungicides and micronutrient coatings.
“Being especially robust, our bacillus remains viable on the seed for longer periods to ensure it’s effective at the point of planting, which can sometimes be a weakness in other biological formulations,” he suggests. “Shelf-life is around 12-months with no pre-mixing involved prior to it going through a seed dresser.”
It’s these benefits specifically that caught the eye of Evans and Pearce’s Rob White. He says having tried a market-leading competitor product, also based on bacillus, he’d found it difficult to use in a practical sense.
“That seed treatment specifically doesn’t come pre-mixed and once prepared, has a limited shelf-life meaning if it wasn’t all being used immediately, there was an element of waste involved. From a business perspective, that isn’t particularly efficient.
“So when I was approached to try Surge – with its improved formulation and longer shelf-life – being fully on board with the benefits of bacillus, I jumped at the opportunity,” he explains.
Rob adds that he could easily see the advantages of having bacillus and manganese together in one seed treatment. “I liked the product and it was at a good price point, in fact, we easily sold around 200T for planting autumn 2025 with little effort.”
Being in the business of mobile seed dressing, Rob points out that his goal is to find products that are quick and easy to use. “We have to be able to decant and apply seamlessly, and it seems Surge really suits our business model. Having dressed seed this autumn with it, I’ve received no negative feedback from the team – it’s applied well with no settling in the drums.”
Robert highlights that it’s indeed the combination of bacillus with manganese which makes Surge unique. “Together, they deliver a symbiotic result – trials from the past season (2024/25) indicate a 5% yield uplift across winter and spring cereals, compared with a control.
“In fact, one farmer in Yorkshire achieved a 29% uplift in 2025-planted spring barley across a 1ha large-scale plot.”
In addition, work by the University of Nottingham has been undertaken to evaluate Surge’s potential in helping crops to overcome disease pressure, namely fusarium and yellow rust. Similar trials are also due to take place using Agrii’s new glasshouse.
“We want to further investigate how Surge can elicit a plant’s natural defence mechanism to help ward off potential disease threats. This could be yet another benefit for the farmer resulting in a knock-on yield advantage, further adding to the many benefits of Surge,” concludes Robert.
This article was taken from the latest issue of CPM. Read the article in full here.
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