In these winter months, it’s important to take special care of ourselves to make sure we can continue to live and work normally. The same is true of inoculants. Keeping them at optimal conditions now, and throughout the year, will ensure they can achieve peak ROI the upcoming growing season.

In this edition of Growing Possibilities, we look at proper storage and handling of inoculants.
Inoculants are living breathing bacteria. Modern premium inoculants are easy to care for because they come complete with all the food and water they need. But they do have other requirements.

Let’s look at all the recommendations we make for storage and handling of our liquid inoculants and then break them down one by one.

1. Keep between 4° C (39° F) and 25° C (77° F)

2. Do not freeze

3. Keep out of direct sunlight

4. Keep away from wind

5. Store separate from pesticides and herbicides

The first recommendation: Keep between 4° C (39° F) and 25° C (77° F), which is the optimal temperature range for inoculants. Just like all other living things, bacteria have a preferred temperature range where they thrive. Outside of this range they can start to die off. This can happen in a very short period, such as inside the cabin of a truck, so don’t expose inoculants to temperature extremes for even a short period of time (1).

Do not let your inoculant freeze. The bacteria in modern inoculants are designed to be very hearty and durable but allowing inoculants to freeze can kill them. Some inoculant bacteria can survive over winter once they are introduced into the soil. They do this by seeking out small micro-pockets where the water has not completely frozen (2). However, this is not something you would ever want to allow to happen to a box of brand-new inoculant.

Keeping inoculants out of direct sunlight prevents UV exposure. Sunlight and specifically UV exposure has been found to reduce the incidence of bacteria in homes by as much as half (3). Sunlight is good for human health, but not so good for the specialized bacteria you bought to inoculate your crop. Exposing your inoculant to sunlight will have a negative effect as the UV rays kill off some of the active bacteria, leaving you with a less effective bladder of inoculant.

Keeping inoculants out of the wind and away from pesticides and herbicides is necessary because rhizobia require oxygen to survive (4). The bags in which our premium inoculants are packaged allow the exchange of oxygen with the outside environment, while at the same time not allowing any liquid to escape. Rhizobia are just like any other living thing that requires oxygen; if we put them in an airtight container, they would eventually asphyxiate and die. Because the membrane of our storage bags is permeable to certain gasses, noxious chemicals can enter the bags. So, it is important to store your inoculants in an environment out of the wind and free from any pesticides or herbicides. Pesticides and herbicide fumes could, over time, reduce the performance of your inoculant.

Handling and storage of liquid inoculants can be a dry topic. But understanding why rhizobia need to be kept under certain conditions can help you to implement common sense storage practices on your farm or business. If you have any questions about inoculant storage and handling, feel free to talk to your local XiteBio^® sales rep or contact us at 1-855-XITEBIO or info@xitebio.com.

1. https://www.saskatchewan.ca/business/agriculture-natural-resources-and-industry/agribusiness-farmers-and-ranchers/crops-and-irrigation/soils-fertility-and-nutrients/inoculation-of-pulse-crops
2. https://xitebio.ca/do-soil-microbes-hibernate/
3. https://microbiomejournal.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s40168-018-0559-4
4. https://journals.plos.org/plosgenetics/article?id=10.1371/journal.pgen.1009099#:~:text=To%20prevent%20this%2C%20plants%20house,genes%20based%20on%20oxygen%20concentration.