FAQs

Legumes species require specific bacterial strains in order to interact effectively. Collectively nitrogen‐fixing bacteria are known as Rhizobium. Commercially in Australia the different strains of Rhizobium are identified and can be matched to their host legume by their inoculant group. E.g. Group GS is for Lupins, another example, Group AL is the correct strain for Lucerne.

In some instances one inoculant Group is compatible with more than one legume species e.g. Group GS can be used for both Lupin & Serradella.

The basic table below aligns inoculant groups to crop and forage legumes commonly grown in Australia. For a more comprehensive table please CLICK HERE for our inoculant group chart.

The product, the ALOSCA granule.

ALOSCA is the brand name of a granular legume inoculant based on a unique bentonite clay impregnated with commercial strains of Root Nodule Bacteria. You may hear it referred to as The ALOSCA granule, the ALOSCA Dry Flow granule or just ALOSCA.

ALOSCA granular inoculants activate on the same seasonal triggers as the sown legume when moisture is available and provides many solutions to on-farm seeding program logistical problems.

The Company, ALOSCA Technologies Pty Ltd.

Established in 2004, ALOSCA Technologies specialises in the development, manufacture and distribution of dry granular legume inoculants which provide many operational benefits over traditional delivery systems.

The formulation was developed to provide a more reliable and end-user friendly delivery system for rhizobia and other beneficial soil microbes. The key feature of the ALOSCA granule is the enhanced survival of microbes during unfavorable conditions which leads to better survival of inoculants and ultimately greater impact on plant growth.

• ALOSCA Granules are activated by the same seasonal triggers as the sown legume maintaining the viability of the Rhizobia bacteria until required by the plant at and after germination.
• ALOSCA Granules create new levels of seeding programme flexibility through the ability to sow dry or into moist seed beds creating the opportunity to take advantage of warmer autumn conditions and rainfall.
• Cereals are the main cash crop on the majority of farms, therefore dry seeding the legume enables the grower to start seeding cereals on the opening rain.
• ALOSCA Granules are highly suited to early sowing (including summer sowing) of shallow sown pasture species to take advantage of early season rainfall and warmer soil temperatures.
• Peat inoculants require moisture in the soil at seeding otherwise rapid mortality of the rhizobia bacteria occurs (90% of cells per day).
• ALOSCA granules buffer against seed dressings harmful to Rhizobium.

The standard rate sowing/application rate for ALOSCA granules is 10kg/ha.

Simplicity is the key to application. Over-mixing the product before transferring to the seeder should be avoided as it degrades or breaks up the granule which can lead to flow problems.

Adequate mixing can be achieved through introducing the granules during the regular transfers of fertiliser or seed from the shed or silo to the grouper bin and then into the seeder. If mixed with fertiliser ALOSCA granular should then be delivered via single shoot and not banded separately to the seed.

With Granular products, care should be taken to ensure seeding equipment calibration is not affected by the nature of the product and should be double checked during initial seeding runs.

ALOSCA granules can be mixed with the fertiliser, the seed or from a third box as long as it is delivered single shoot into the furrow in close proximity to the seed. If mixed with fertiliser ALOSCA granules should not be banded separately away from the seed.

No, ALOSCA granules should be kept dry, once wet they may clump and become difficult to handle. Water or excessive moisture should be avoided when using the ALOSCA granules.

If residue does build up on equipment with moisture wait for it to dry and it will readily chip off without too much force. Alternatively immerse in water allowing the clay to soften and then brush/wash away buildup and rinse clean.

A freeze dried legume inoculant is a 2 part product with 1 x 30mL glass vial holding the freeze dried rhizobium powder and 1 x 100g sachet of protecting agent powder, the two parts make up one product unit. The freeze dried powder is a centrifuged concentration of nitrogen fixing bacteria (Rhizobium) that has been dried under vacuum at very low temperatures, thus freeze dried. The freeze dried cells are reconstituted in water during preparation for use. The freeze dried inoculant is fully soluble in water and has no particulate matter once dissolved so it passes through fine nozzles, mesh screens and/or fine orifice plates without blockage making the coating of seed or liquid injecting of inoculant an easier, hassle free application process. See PRODUCT RANGE for more details.

Traditional peat based inoculant formulations can fall out of suspension in water and tend to block fine spray nozzles when used through liquid injection systems.

Freeze dried legume inoculants offer a big step up in application convenience, alleviating the need for strainers or the teabag method in tank when in furrow liquid injecting via the seeding bar. EasyRhiz™ is soluble in water and has no particulate matter once dissolved. It stays in suspension for extended periods and is very slow to settle out. Without the particulate matter inherent in peat based inoculants EasyRhiz will pass through fine nozzles, mesh screens and/or fine orifice plates without blockage. This makes the coating of seed via nozzle application up the auger or liquid injecting of inoculant an easier hassle free application process.

As a rule no, do not tank mix rhizobium as typically they’re very sensitive to a pH shift away from neutral and in some cases the element being used may be toxic to the inoculant. Copper and zinc are definitely harmful and other products have been found to negatively affect nodulation outcomes. A not uncommon occurrence is where the user will note a significant drop in nodulation the longer the products were mixed together. The first few seeding runs were OK but the subsequent nodulation dropped for the latter part of the tank delivery. Situations will vary but there is definitely a high risk of damage or death of the Rhizobium if kept in suspension with trace elements and/or other liquid nutrients.

As a rule no, do not tank mix rhizobium with crop protection fungicides and/or insecticides in water. While some manufactures have cleared the way for peat inoculants when applied to seed to be used in conjunction with some crop protection agents it is not recommended to mix them in water and leave them in suspension for any length of time.

Apply with 50 to 200 litres of water per hectare. Higher water rates will deliver a better outcome in dryer soil conditions and give better furrow distribution.

Do NOT freeze a freeze dried inoculant. The vial should be stored between 4°C and 10°C out of direct sunlight.

Sowing into dry soil is not recommended for this product. Of the three carrier types, granular, freeze dried and peat based, freeze dried is the least suitable for sowing to dry soils due to the cell being directly exposed to the drying conditions.

Legume inoculants are the group of products applied in-furrow or on seed to enhance and promote legume-rhizobium symbiosis. Root nodule symbiosis is a mutually beneficial biological process for both the treated legume crop or forage species and the applied nitrogen‐fixing bacteria (inoculant).The applied nitrogen‐fixing bacteria, once established as root nodule colonies, are able to capture and convert atmospheric nitrogen into a form that is directly available for plant growth while the legume plant supplies nutrients to the bacteria.

Legume inoculants are living cultures of nitrogen‐fixing bacteria and as such are perishable and care should be taken to observe manufacturers’ storage and application directions to enhance product outcomes.

Legume inoculant products are available in different formulations and types. Each formulation has a range of benefits and constraints that should be considered to best meet the end-user’s needs. see PRODUCT RANGE

Legumes species require specific bacterial strains in order to interact effectively. Collectively nitrogen‐fixing bacteria are known as Rhizobium. Commercially in Australia the different strains of Rhizobium are identified and can be matched to their host legume by their inoculant group. E.g. Group G for Lupins, another example, Group AL is the correct strain for Lucerne.

Our range of ALOSCA Granular, Freeze dried and peat based inoculants is available through all the major rural merchandise chains or your local independent supplier and many seed supply companies throughout Australia. For more regionally specific sales points or if you are searching from overseas please CONTACT US via our contact page.

By inoculating legumes you are dosing the legumes root zone with high numbers of nitrogen fixing bacteria which will infect the emerging legumes root structure following germination to root nodule colonies as the roots develop. Generally the earlier the colonies initiate and the more prolific they are the better the nitrogen fixation capacity. While this process may occur if the soil has been sown to the legume and inoculated before, re-inoculation will help to optimise the process through delivering the most up to date elite strains which will fix a comparatively high weight of nitrogen per unit area.

The primary benefit to farming systems is the capture and conversion of atmospheric nitrogen to plant usable forms available for the sown legume and subsequent non-legume crops following the decomposition of crop and pasture legume nitrogen rich residues in the following seasons. In low fertility soils legume captured nitrogen will not fully offset the needs of intensive cropping rotations where legumes may only be grown once in every 4 to 5 years.

Put simply, nitrogen is a key driver of plant growth and artificial applied nitrogen is expensive and prone to leaching and volatilisation post application. As a percentage of total dry weight, between 0.4% and 3% of plant biomass ends up as nitrogen in the residues. The level of nitrogen in residues is dependant, among other factors, on how well the plant was supplied with nitrogen during growth. Legumes are no exception to this so the more freely available nitrogen is to the legume, the greater the biomass potential during the legume-rhizobium symbiosis phase of crop rotation and subsequently the greater the nitrogen offset or benefit.

There are 3 types of inoculant carrier commonly available in Australia for forage and crop legume inoculation.

• Granular, sown in-furrow during seeding operation, see PRODUCT RANGE-Granular
• Freeze dried, mixed with water and injected in-furrow during seeding operation or applied to seed as a slurry before seeding operation, see PRODUCT RANGE–Freeze dried.
• Peat based, mixed with water and/or seed adhesive applied to seed as a slurry before seeding operation, see PRODUCT RANGE–Peat based.
  Product selection should reflect the end-users needs in terms of scale of farm operation and the inherent constraints they need to overcome to successfully deliver viable rhizobium to the furrow and establish productive nitrogen fixation.

Currently for the farmer there is not a commercially available test, however an affordable fast turnaround method is being developed in Western Australian at the Centre for Rhizobium Studies at Murdoch University. There is an established glasshouse based method which is reasonably reliable but it is prohibitively expensive and takes up to 8 weeks to return a result.

For the next few years at least, reviewing rotation history and getting an understanding of factors that may suppress or delay the onset of nodulation or affect persistence of rhizobia in soils is currently the best gauge for assessing paddock or background stain effectiveness.

There are numerous factors contributing to Rhizobia population deterioration in Australian soils.

It should be noted that the factors listed below are recognised as the main contributing factors, there are others. In combination, these factors can have a compounding negative effect on the persistence of effective rhizobia strains being available to initiate productive nodulation in forage and crop legume paddocks.

These factors, listed below, have been ordered top to bottom in order of greatest impact.

• Extremes in soil pH that fall outside the tolerable range for the legume-rhizobium symbiosis to function effectively.
• Low soil clay content.
• Low soil organic matter.
• Usage of agrichemical products known to be harmful to rhizobium soil populations – generally higher impact on high pH soils.
• Prevalent usage of residual broadleaf herbicides controlling low populations of host legume species during cereal phases – generally higher impact on high pH soils. Plant back windows for Group B mode of action herbicides should be observed with the Sulfonylureas (SUs) sub-group seeming to frequently present symptoms of nodulation suppression . Clopyralid (Lontrel®), a commonly used Group I mode of action product  has increasingly been shown to suppress nodulation in the season following application.
• High summer soil temperatures – no stubble/overburden to insulate.
• Genetic dilution of elite rhizobia strains. This is a natural evolution whereby key genetic traits transfer to indigenous Root Nodule Bacteria and these hybrid types may then ineffectively nodulate the target species.
• Long rotational breaks of primary strain hosts

While it’s tempting to reduce rates to save a few dollars per hectare it has been shown to be a false economy. Inoculation, like many things biological, is a numbers game, so the more points of contact or rhizobia numbers you have the more likely that that factor will influence the local environment. Label inoculation rates are set at a level that delivers a dosage of effective nitrogen fixing bacteria sufficient to promote effective establishment of nodulation where no background rhizobia exist and/or provide strong competition against less effective strains that may be present where there is a history of the sown legume.

The risks with over inoculating legumes are handling related rather than being harmful to the treated legume itself. Applying too much material to seed with either peat based or Freeze Dried products may result in blockage or flow problems through the seeding equipment. Likewise, with Granular products, care should be taken to ensure seeding equipment calibrations are not affected by the nature of the product and should be double checked during initial seeding runs.

Higher than label rates of inoculant application have been shown to be beneficial where that particular species has not been sown before and/or where several constraints to successful inoculation may combine to reduce the percentage of cells surviving to initiate nodulation. Higher inoculation rates may also be beneficial to outcompete less productive background soil rhizobia that may be less effective nitrogen fixers.

In most situations legume nodulation and fixation is suppressed by soil-mineral nitrogen (nitrate). The amount of suppression depends on the legume species and the level of nitrate available to the plant. So, provided the inoculation process is successful there is no need to use nitrogen fertilisers during the legume phase of the rotation.

This depends on the inoculant type and the stage of inoculation (bulk slurry mix, on the seed or mixed with another seeding input as with granular products). Moisture reliant formulations, like peat based and freeze dried products are prone to drying out once applied to seed, so under warmer and low humidity conditions their interim survival is negatively impacted and they should be sown without delay. ALOSCA dry granular formulation when mixed with seed or fertiliser buys you time as the nitrogen fixing bacteria are buffered from acidity and drying out by the properties of the clay carrier.

Yes, it is a matter of using an appropriate inoculant formulation for the seeding situation. Traditionally with moisture reliant legume inoculants that are applied to seed, like peat based inoculants, dry sowing has been an issue. Nitrogen fixing bacteria carried in moisture reliant inoculant products are susceptible to drying out under warm, low humidity conditions common to autumn sowing in Australia and other dryland farming climates.

The unique properties of the ALOSCA granule protects nitrogen fixing bacteria from heat and low humidity through the capacity of the carrier clay to hold in sufficient moisture for extended periods to maintain the viability of the product even when the surrounding soil is warm and dry. When the soil profile receives sufficient rainfall to dampen the granule it disperses the nitrogen fixing bacteria to the furrow and becomes available to the legume’s emerging root system. The ALOSCA granule activates on the same seasonal triggers as the sown legume.

Moisture reliant carriers such as peat based and liquid injected freeze dried products should ideally be sown to moist soil to optimise the survival of the inoculant. Studies with peat based products have shown that about 90% of the seed applied bacterial cells will perished per day. This death rate is accelerated in warmer and lower humidity conditions.

The unique properties of the ALOSCA granule protects nitrogen fixing bacteria from heat and low humidity through the capacity of the carrier clay to hold in sufficient moisture for extended periods to maintain the viability of the product even when the surrounding soil is warm and dry. When the soil profile receives sufficient rainfall to dampen the granule it disperses the nitrogen fixing bacteria to the furrow and becomes available to the legume’s emerging root system. The ALOSCA granule activates on the same seasonal triggers as the sown legume.

Yes, in some instances. With peat based and freeze dried products that are applied to the seed there is a risk following application they can be dislodged from the seed surface during the seeding operation and/or dry out and fall off. Seed adhesives adhere the peat inoculant to the seed reducing losses if used at the correct rate for the situation see PRODUCT RANGE–seed adhesive.

Seed adhesive is incorporated into peat based inoculants for larger seeded crop legume inoculant products such as lupin, pea, bean and chickpeas at a low rate that will adhere the inoculant to the seed for ‘up the for auger’ application where lime pelleting is not required for the preparation.

For pasture legume peat inoculants, these are typically the smaller seeded species, the seed adhesive is not incorporated into the product. Seed adhesive will need to be prepared before adding the peat and applying to the seed in order to hold enough inoculant to the seed and or you intend to lime pellet the seed.

IMPORTANT: the rate (grams per litre) of dry sticker product used is critical.

When using standalone slurry, that is without pelleting lime, use at a rate of no more than 2% w/w (20g per litre of water).This will reduce the likelihood of all your seed sticking together in your seed box or inoculation mixer. When using to form lime pellets (lime pelleting seed) with milled limestone, use no less than 10% w/w (100g per litre) up to a maximum of 20%w/w (200g/litre of water). The higher the %w/w usage the more durable your formed pellet will be. If you plan to handle the pelleted seed more than once or twice then a minimum 15% w/w should be used.

Recommended seed adhesives should be used in preference to substitutes like sugars and oils to optimise adhesion and inoculant survival.

Lime pelleting is a process associated with peat slurry and in some circumstances freeze dried inoculant products. While lime pelleting adds to the tedious process of slurry inoculation it will improve seed handling and inoculant survival in some circumstances.

Lime pelleting is secondary in the slurry inoculation process absorbing excessive slurry moisture after the seed and slurry are mixed. If the slurry is prepared with a seed adhesive the addition of lime* will form a coating on the seed which should hold together and enhance the survival of the inoculant through the seeding process and post-seeding in the soil before germination.

Lime pelleting is of particular value with small seeds (forage species) inoculation as it helps counter clumping following the mixing of the seed and inoculant slurry.

Lime pelleting should also be considered where the seed comes in contact with acidic fertilisers in the furrow or is sown into acidic soils to buffer the rhizobium. This should be considered on a species by species basis as some species, for example serradella inoculant strains, are adapted to acidic environments and the alkaline conditions created with lime pelleting can be counter productive.
*Milled/powered limestone is the most cost effective lime pelleting material. Do not use Hydrated Lime (other names for Hydrated Lime: Marvelime, Hy-Lime, Slaked Lime, Industrial Hydrated Lime, Chemical Hydrated Lime, Brickies Lime – do not use for lime pelleting.

At about 8 weeks following germination legume root systems can be examined to see if a satisfactory establishment of nodulation has been achieved. To sample dig up (don’t pull them out as the nodules will be lost) a sample of plants representative of the varying soil types in the paddock and gently wash the soil off the roots. Immersing the root in a bucket of water for a while may be necessary if working with clay soils.

The appearance of nodules varies between species however if nodulation has established well there should be numerous nodule colonies which when cut open will be pink in colour inside. While it is impossible to tell by visual inspection in the field if the plant has picked up a background strain or the inoculant strain, the pink colour generally signifies good nodulation function.

Yes you can, with seed applied products mix the species once the seed has been slurry treated and/or lime pelleted separately. Don’t mix different strains together in the slurry and apply to all the seed types mixed as you should aim to concentrate the specific inoculant strains on each legume seed type.
For granular inoculants the different strains can also be mixed together before sowing.

Rhizobium, if unprotected, will perish if exposed to ultraviolet light and/or they dry out. For these reasons spray boom application is not recommended.

The Rhizobium group of bacteria pose no reported toxicity to humans. Given this, there are low levels of other microbes in some inoculant carriers so respiratory protection such as particle masks and gloves should be used to avoid minor inhalation or skin irritation when handling.

Dry granular inoculants are dustier by nature than other inoculant carriers such as peat and freeze dried products. As per label recommendation, when handling ALOSCA granular products use a dust mask to prevent inhalation and eye protection, gloves and appropriate clothing (long pants and long-sleeved shirt) to avoid eye and skin contact.