Elkay Silicones Transforming Agriculture: Smarter Farming with - Silicone Adjuvant- LK-AG100
Revolutionizing Agriculture with Silicone Innovation!
Elkay Silicones introduces LK-AG100, a breakthrough silicone surfactant designed to redefine crop management. This advanced formulation empowers farmers with tools for increased productivity by improving effectiveness of herbicides, fungicides, insecticides, and plant growth regulators used in foliar spray application, reduce the time, labour, chemicals cost and effective use of water.
LK-AG100 is a revolutionary silicone-based surfactant designed for modern agriculture, offering unmatched performance and versatility by reducing surface tension –
- Superior Spreading and Penetration: Reduces surface tension, ensuring uniform coverage and deep penetration into plant tissues.
- Rain fastness: Enhances nutrient and pesticide absorption, reducing wash-off and increasing efficacy.
- Versatility: Ideal for foliar sprays, herbicides, fungicides, insecticides, and plant growth regulators.
- Resource Efficiency: Saves water and agrochemical usage while minimizing environmental impact.
Gerbera Crop Trials on field
In collaboration with a Government Agriculture University, Elkay Silicones conducted trials at the Hi-Tech Floriculture and Vegetable Project, College of Agriculture, Pune, to assess the performance of LK-AG100 used as additive in nutrient during the foliar spray on gerbera crops.
Wherein twelve treatments (varying doses) and three replications (control, LK-AG 100, and non-silicone market samples) are used in a Randomized Block Design (RBD). Bed size is to Length 30 m width 80 cm Height 20 cm
The detail information as follows:
- T1 (Control): Nutrient water spray at 15 Day after plantation (DAP)
- T2: Nutrient water spray at 30 DAP.
- T3: Nutrient water spray at 60 DAP.
- T4: 0.03% LK-AG100 in nutrient water solution at 15 DAP.
- T5: 0.03% LK-AG100 in nutrient water solution at 15 & 30 DAP.
- T6: 0.03% LK-AG100 in nutrient water solution at 15, 30 & 60 DAP.
- T7: 0.05% LK-AG100 in nutrient water solution at 15 DAP.
- T8: 0.05% LK-AG100 in nutrient water solution at 15 & 30 DAP.
- T9: 0.05% LK-AG100 in nutrient water solution at 15, 30 & 60 DAP.
- T10: 0.03% Market sample in nutrient water solution at 15 DAP.
- T11: 0.03% Market sample in nutrient water solution at 15 & 30 DAP.
- T12: 0.03% Market sample in nutrient water solution at 15, 30 & 60 DAP.
Materials and Methods (Summary):
Gerbera (Goliath variety, orange petals) was cultivated hydroponically in 5-liter cocopeat pots. Plants received daily drip irrigation with water-soluble fertilizers, maintaining pH 5.6–5.8 and EC 1.2–1.4 dS/m.
All treatments included 0.5% each of Zinc Sulphate, Magnesium Sulphate, and Ferrous Sulphate to boost nutrient uptake and crop growth. LK-AG100 silicone adjuvant was applied as a foliar additive at 0.03% and 0.05% concentrations on days 15, 30, and 60 after planting. Standard cultural practices such as weeding, deleafing, bud removal, and pest control were followed.
Observations recorded :
- Stem length (cm)
- Diameter of flower (cm)
- Number of leaves in final stage
- Yield ( Number of flowers/ plant)
| % improvement of treatments over control groups | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Parameter | T4–T6 0.03% LK-AG100 |
T7–T9 0.05% LK-AG100 |
T10–T12 Market Sample |
| Stem Length (%) | 17.1 | 21 | 14 |
| Flower Diameter (%) | 22 | 29 | 11 |
| Final Leaves (%) | 24 | 30 | 14 |
| Flower Yield (%) | 8 | 14.7 | 4 |
Conclusion:
The treatments T4–T6, T7–T9, and T10–T12 show significant improvements over the control group (T1–T3), especially in terms of steam length, flower diameter, leaf development, and overall yield. Among all, T7–T9 (0.05% of LK-AG 100 in nutrient solution) demonstrates the highest improvement, with:
- +21% stem length
- +29% flower diameter
- +30% more final leaves
- +14.7% higher flower yield
This indicates that the adjuvant LK-AG 100 (0.05%) along with the nutrient solution used in T7–T9 group has the most promising effect on Gerbera growth and flowering performance.
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