About Biozest
Biozest increases pasture productivity and ruminant productivity to increase milk and meat production and reduce the environmental impact of farming.
Increase productivity AND reduce nitrate leaching and greenhouse gas emissions with Biozest.
What is Biozest?
Biozest is a pasture spray for organic & conventional farms.
Biozest helps pasture naturally resist stress and damage and improves pasture growth, quality and resilience.
Biozest treated pasture is more easily converted to valuable meat and milk instead of waste products like urea and greenhouse gases.
Biozest is manufactured from plant extracts, fatty acids, plant compatible organic acids and wetting agents.
ACVM exempt & Certified by BioGro (5943).
Key Benefits and Trial Examples
Increased Pasture Productivity
In this baleage trial, all Biozest treated paddocks, in both the first and second cut, outperformed the untreated paddocks. Overall, the Biozest treated paddocks yielded over 2x as many bales as the untreated paddocks.
Increased Milk/Meat Production
This trial was carried out on a dairy farm on the Hauraki Plains. In autumn, gestating cows grazed Biozest treated pasture and untreated pasture in cycles of approximately 8 to 10 days.
Dairy cows grazing on Biozest treated pasture produced 8.5% more milk solids and 12.2% more fat per litre compared to when they were feeding on control (untreated) pasture.
Reduced Nutrient Loss and Greenhouse Gases
Urine tests from dairy goats that were fed treated and control pasture in rotation showed that less urea is discharged when the dairy goats are fed Biozest treated
pasture.
The average decrease in urea excretion is 37% (2-tailed t-test p=0.03).
Reducing urea excretion means less nitrates are deposited on the land so less is available to leach to our waterways.
Biozest Videos
How Does Biozest Work?
1. Biozest Increases Pasture Productivity
Biozest is applied to pasture as a liquid spray.
All plants have receptors on their surfaces that detect changes (such as high UV light, pest attack or disease) and trigger an immune/defence response from the plant.
Biozest is designed to be detected by these same receptors so that Biozest also elicits (or triggers) the same immune/defence system.
This triggers the ‘phenylpropanoid pathway’ – production of a wide range of bioactive molecules which sustain plant immune systems, assisting plants to overcome stress and damage from pests, disease and environmental effects such as frost or drought.
By producing these bioactive molecules Biozest treated pasture is more resilient and more productive.
2. Treated Pasture Increases Ruminant Efficiency
The inefficient nature of the ruminant digestive system means only 20-25% of pasture protein is converted to milk or meat while 75% is lost as waste via urine and dung, and energy is lost as methane gas.
The bioactive molecules in Biozest treated pasture protect the protein so, when ruminants consume it, more pasture is converted to milk or meat and less is broken down to ammonia and excreted as urea and emitted as methane.
Biozest treated pasture also has higher levels of soluble sugars: this favours the production of propionate (which is more efficient and energy rich) over acetate (which is less efficient and results in energy being wasted as methane and heat). The result: more milk and meat, less gas and urea.
3. Biozest Reduces Environmental Waste
Urea is a loss of valuable protein which may be leached leading to water pollution or converted to the greenhouse gas nitrous oxide, and methane is lost energy. Together, they contribute to increased greenhouse gases and increase farming’s environmental footprint.
Biozest treated pasture increases stock efficiency through enhanced pasture growth, feed digestion and productivity, resulting in a reduction in urea and methane..
Man alive, did I see some results,”
Growth was up to 30kg of dry matter a day, compared with 10kg to 15kg normally.
“The grass just took off. Everything grew, clovers and all. And the cows ate it all, right down and evenly across the paddock – even the urine and dung patches.”
Mike Walsh, Opunake
MPI
Biozest is authorised by MPI (under the ACVM Act) as exempt from registration and can be used on all crops with nil waiting period & nil withholding period.
Organics
Biozest is certified by BioGro for use in organic production (5943).