Agriculture: Bioconversion of sugar cane molasses

摘要

Auxein Corporation is demonstrating for commercial use an organic acid phytochelate, derived from what would otherwise be a discarded portion of sugar cane, that could increase the domestic sugar industry's profit margin from near zero to 7%. Along with helping a struggling industry, the phytochelate will bring substantial improvements to crop and tree production and greatly reduce the environmental threat posed by nitrogen-based fertilizers. Currently, the amount of fertilizer used produces harmful levels of run-off that contaminates ground water with unwanted nitrogen. By utilizing organic acid phytochelates, which assist plant growth by unlocking minerals stored in soil, fertilizer use can be dramatically reduced. This would improve crop yields, remove environmental threats to ground water, and cut fertilizer costs by as much as 50%.