Uniumprides itself on having very high-quality research behind its technologies to give growers confidence and reassurance that not all biostimulants fit into the Snake Oil camp.

We work with world renowned researchers to take their research and create reliable, robust practical solutions for farmers and growers to improve their efficiency and return on investment.

We have been working withDr. Pat Unkefer(Advance Crop Chemicals) and formally (Retired) ofLos Alamos National Laboratoryfor many years and are proud to have commercialised two of her leading technologies. Pat has spent over 30 years working on plant nitrogen assimilation and carbon sequestration pathways.

After discovering the metabolite 2 Oxoglutaramate (2 OXO), her team has shown that the unique molecule 2 OXO has a profound effect on plant nitrogen metabolism. Dr. Unkefer working alongsideDr. Nigel Grech(Unium Bioscience), and their respective teams, have finally cracked one of the codes when it comes to carbon sequestration and nitrogen assimilation by finally producing the most effective molecule in the process 2 OXO, which is the actual functional metabolite that plants use to sense N status and regulate Nitrogen.

Unium has spent the last 3 years researching the new opportunity of 2 OXO for integrating in crop systems in the EU.

So, what does it do it is a natural plant metabolite which coordinates 2 of the key vital processes in plants:

• Increasing carbon fixation by up-regulating photosynthesis and
• Increasing nitrogen assimilation in plants by increasing uptake and concomitantly increasing N reduction rates and ultimately resulting in higher Amino acid pools which then go into downstream anabolism.

The 2 OXO technology stimulates the plant to increases both CO2 uptake as well as nitrogen and thereby elevate biomass and yield creating a similar crop effect to that of elevated atmospheric CO2 levels.

The technology has many possibilities from increasing crop establishment, growth and development leading to increased yield and quality depending upon application, timing and dose but there are also other crop management benefits for example it can be deployed to reduce nitrates in salads and vegetables prior to harvest a desirable trait for the fresh food industry.