As weather extremes become more frequent, crop resilience is emerging as a critical factor in agricultural productivity, with growing emphasis on helping plants withstand drought, heat and other environmental stresses.
Omnia Nutriology® says the shift is driving greater interest in biostimulants, which support plants’ natural physiological processes and complement conventional crop nutrition and agronomic practices.
Venessa Moodley, Biostimulant Lead at Omnia Nutriology®, said agricultural productivity should be assessed not only by how much a crop produces under favourable conditions but also by its ability to maintain performance when growing conditions deteriorate.
“Yield will always be an important measure of success, but increasingly we also need to think about protecting that yield potential,” Moodley said.
“The question is not only how a crop performs when conditions are favourable, but how effectively it can respond when drought, heat or other environmental pressures begin to affect growth.”
According to the company, biostimulants are increasingly becoming part of crop management strategies because they influence plants’ natural processes, helping them prepare for abiotic stresses such as drought and heat.
These products can support nutrient uptake, nutrient-use efficiency, root development and overall plant health, potentially helping crops sustain growth and recover more effectively under challenging conditions.
“Alongside sound nutrition and agronomic practices, they help optimise crop performance and strengthen tolerance to environmental stress. Early application of the right biostimulant can help prepare the plant before challenging conditions begin to affect growth,” Moodley said.
The company said this approach informed the development of Chitostar™, its liquid biostimulant powered by chitosan, which acts as an elicitor to activate plants’ natural defence responses before environmental stress compromises their performance.
According to Omnia, the activation of these defence pathways helps strengthen cell walls, stimulate defence-related enzymes and enhance metabolic activity. These processes can support chlorophyll production, biomass accumulation and more consistent crop development under varying growing conditions.
Chitostar™ is designed to complement existing crop nutrition programmes and integrate into standard fertiliser practices. It also supplies zinc, manganese and copper, micronutrients that contribute to enzyme function and plant metabolism.
The company said the product is registered as a biostimulant under South Africa’s Fertilisers, Farm Feeds, Agricultural Remedies and Stock Remedies Act, 1947 (Act 36 of 1947), with its claims supported by greenhouse and field trials.
Omnia reported that research had shown statistically significant improvements in chlorophyll production and root and shoot biomass under both water-stressed and favourable conditions.
Field evaluations across multiple crops also indicated improvements in plant performance that translated into measurable yield responses, the company said.
Moodley, however, acknowledged that biostimulants could not eliminate the risks associated with unpredictable weather and other environmental pressures.
“No product can remove environmental risk. What we can do is give producers additional tools to help crops withstand the challenges that inevitably occur during a growing season and support more consistent crop performance,” she said.
She said the growing emphasis on resilience reflected a shift towards preparing crops for potential stress rather than waiting until its effects became visible before taking action.
“As growing conditions become less predictable, resilience is going to become an increasingly important part of how we think about productivity,” Moodley said.
“The decisions made before stress arrives can have an important influence on how effectively a crop responds when conditions change.”
For farmers, the objective remains to maximise productivity from every hectare, but the company said achieving that goal increasingly requires strategies that protect yield potential when growing conditions become unfavourable.
The approach places crop resilience alongside yield as an important consideration in agricultural management, particularly as producers contend with increasingly unpredictable environmental conditions.
