New technology enables crops to take nitrogen directly from the air

plants (intra-cellular) via the seed, it provides every cell in the plant with the ability to fix nitrogen. Plant seeds are coated with these bacteria in order to create a symbiotic, mutually beneficial relationship and naturally produce nitrogen.

N-Fix is a natural nitrogen seed coating that provides a sustainable solution to fertilizer overuse and Nitrogen pollution. It is environmentally friendly and can be applied to all crops. Over the last ten years, The University of Nottingham has conducted a series of extensive research programs which have established proof of principal of the technology in the laboratory, growth rooms and glasshouses. 

The University of Nottingham’s Plant and Crop Sciences Division is internationally acclaimed as a center for fundamental and applied research, underpinning its understanding of agriculture, food production and quality, and the natural environment.  It also has one of the largest communities of plant scientists in the United Kingdom. 

Significant implications for agriculture
Dr. Susan Huxtable, director of Intellectual Property Commercialization at the University of Nottingham, believes that the technology has potentially major implications for the agricultural industry, she said: “There is a substantial global market for the N-Fix technology, as it can be applied to all crops. It has the power to transform agriculture, while at the same time offering a significant cost benefit to the grower through the savings that they will make in the reduced costs of fertilizers. It is a great example of how University research can have a world-changing impact.”

The N-Fix technology has been licensed by the University of Nottingham to Azotic Technologies Ltd to develop and commercialize N-Fix globally on its behalf for all crop species.

The potential to help feed the developing world
Peter Blezard, CEO of Azotic Technologies added: “Agriculture has to change and N-Fix can make a real and positive contribution to that change. It has enormous potential to help feed more people in many of the poorer parts of the world, while at the same time, dramatically reducing the amount of synthetic nitrogen produced in the world.”

The proof of concept has already been demonstrated. The uptake and fixation of nitrogen in a range of crop species has been proven to work in the laboratory and Azotic is now working on field trials in order to produce robust efficacy data. This will be followed by seeking regulatory approval for N-Fix initially in the United Kingdom, Europe, United States, Canada, and Brazil, with more countries to follow. 

It is anticipated that the N-Fix technology will be commercially available within the next two to three years.