Ellie Edwards reports positive results with Status®
Agronomist reports exciting results
Frontier Agriculture Agronomist Ellie Edwards has reported encouraging results after applying Status®, IntraCrop’s flagship biostimulant product, across more than 1,000 acres of mixed cropping this spring. In a season marked by dry weather and challenging heat stress, she says Status® has helped maintain crop health, chlorophyll levels and growth habit.
“This spring I have put Status® on over 1,000 acres on a different variety of crops: winter wheat, winter barley, spring barley, beans and oilseed rape,” she explained. “With this period of drought and heat stress, crops are definitely not looking as stressed. They’re still maintaining a growth habit, maybe slightly less than in a normal year, but much more than they would be in a drought situation. They’re still progressing through to flowering as expected.”
Ellie applied Status® at key timings to anticipate the impact of abiotic stress. “This crop had Status® on at GS30 in with its T0,” she said. “Looking at the long-range forecast, it looked like we were coming into a period of dry weather. By putting Status® on before drought and heat stress hit, it’s maintained its green leaf area and chlorophyll pigmentation, which should have less impact on yield when we reach harvest.”
Her comments are backed by multiple trials across Europe and the UK, which have shown that Status® helps protect crops from the physiological effects of abiotic stress by preserving chlorophyll and supporting nitrogen assimilation during dry or hot periods. This is achieved through a unique combination of MTU® and pidolic acid, two biostimulant compounds that together reduce chlorophyll breakdown and toxic ammonia build-up in the plant.
MTU® was first identified as a potent anti-senescence agent during heat stress by the Institute of Experimental Botany and Palacký University in Czechia. When combined with pidolic acid, which acts as a signalling compound in the nitrogen assimilation pathway, the result is improved nitrogen use efficiency and better stress tolerance.
“Status® was also applied on some winter barley at early T0,” Ellie said. “You can still see a lot of chlorophyll pigmentation and green leaf to go through to harvest, fingers crossed, even in drought and heat conditions.”
When comparing treated and untreated areas, the differences were clear. “If we look into the untreated side that hasn’t had Status® applied, in exactly the same conditions, you can see there’s a lot less green leaf. The crop is looking a bit more stressed. It’s a little bit shorter, more affected, and there’s not as much chlorophyll pigmentation and green leaf area, which will affect yield as well.”
Across UK trials, Status® has demonstrated an average of 6% yield increase across a range of crops, with some trials reporting as much as 40% increase in root growth, 15% increase in shoot growth, and 95% improvement in nitrogen use efficiency under reduced fertiliser regimes.
Ellie’s practical on-farm experience aligns closely with these results, reinforcing the value of applying Status® ahead of forecasted abiotic stress. Her observations support growing confidence among agronomists that proactive biostimulant use is not only a tool for stress mitigation, but a sound investment in yield resilience.
“It’s about timing,” she concluded. “Applying Status® before the stress hit made a visible difference this year.”
25th June 2025
