EasyRhiz™ is a highly concentrated freeze-dried legume inoculant. EasyRhiz™ is designed to enhance nitrogen fixation in leguminous plants by using beneficial Rhizobia bacteria. EasyRhiz™ can help improve crop yields and plant performance by increasing nitrogen availability to host plants and promote healthy root development.

EasyRhiz™ enhances nitrogen availability in the soil, potentially providing 30-200 kg of nitrogen per hectare annually, which improves subsequent crop yields.

The independent GRDC project Optimising Rhizobial Inoculants and their Delivery Methods for Legumes in the Northern Cropping Region (UWS00006) and QDAF (formerly DAQ) project Agronomic Solutions for Queensland Pulse Growers (DAQ00061) showed the application of EasyRhiz™ freeze-dried inoculant on-seed or by water injection (in furrow liquid injection) has shown to be as effective as traditional peat-based inoculants applied as a slurry on-seed (Douglas et al 2005).

Combined application of different types of inoculants such as the peat-based NoduleN™ and freeze-dried EasyRhiz™ can result in higher nodulation of legumes. The higher the number of nodules, the greater the capacity of the plant to fix nitrogen, the better the plant growth and in turn better chance of higher crop yields.  

Results of lupin (PBA Barlock) grown at Farrell Flat in the Mid North of SA presented in the GRDC publications “Best options for optimal performance from rhizobial inoculants”, and “Optimising performance from rhizobial inoculants for pulse crops sown in suboptimal soil conditions” showed that combining a peat-based inoculant (such as NoduleN™) with freeze-dried EasyRhiz™ resulted in the highest Nodule dry weight per plant (Denton et al 2018, Farquharson et al 2018). For further information please see the NEM Double Inoculation Fact Sheet.

Doubling the inoculant rate is advisable if:

•    Planting legumes in a paddock for the first time.
•    The paddock has had no legumes for more than four years.
•    Soil is too acidic or low in organic matter

EasyRhiz™ can be applied in two ways:

•    In-Furrow via Liquid Injection: Mix EasyRhiz™ with EasyBond Genesis and apply it directly in the planting furrow.
•    On-Seed Application: Coat seeds with the reconstituted EasyRhiz™ solution before planting 

Ensure to select the correct EasyRhiz™ inoculant group type for the legume seed being sown. To select correct group type for the legume seed, refer to NEM’s Legume Inoculant Group Chart For further details on application methods please refer to the EasyRhiz™ technical data sheet.

1. Remove the cap and rubber bung from the EasyRhiz™ vial.
2. Fill the vial with cool, clean, non-chlorinated water up to the shoulder and shake vigorously.
3. Let it stand for 30 minutes to reconstitute, then mix it with EasyBond Genesis as per your application need.

EasyBond Genesis is a protective agent that improves the survivability of Rhizobia during application. It buffers the water the freeze-dried cells are re-suspended in to reduce osmotic shock and in addition enhances seed adhesion of the rhizobia. For further details on reconstituting EasyRhiz™ with EasyBond Genesis  please refer to the EasyRhiz™ technical data sheet.

On-seed:

The application rate depends on seed size and treatment method. For on-seed applications, these are general guidelines:

•    50 kg of small seed requires 0.75 L of water.
•    250 kg of medium seed needs 1.5 L.
•    500 kg of large seed should have 3 L

For application in-furrow via liquid injection:

Determine the number of vials required to treat the sowing area (see formula below).

[Sowing rate, kg/ha / Kg of seed treated per vial] / [Water rate, L per ha / Tank size]

Using the following formula will determine the number of vials required to be added to the injection tank to achieve the minimum necessary amount of rhizobia in the seed furrow. The suggestion is that the number of vials are rounded up to the next whole vial as part vials do not store. For further details on application of EasyRhiz™ in-furrow via liquid injection please refer to the EasyRhiz™ technical data sheet.

Avoid tank mixing EasyRhiz™ with agricultural pesticides, fertilisers, or trace elements like zinc and copper, as these can be toxic to Rhizobia.