Increasing Harvest Success by Preventing Pod Shatter

Premature pod shatter can be a devastating phenomenon for farmers, translating to lost seeds, reduced yields, and diminished profits. It is particularly prevalent in crops such as oilseed rape (OSR) and soybeans, where fragile pods act as protective casings for valuable seeds. Once these pods split early, due to genetics, environmental stress, or a combination of both, the seeds drop onto the soil, rendering them unharvestable and encouraging volunteer growth. The stakes are even higher when volatile weather conditions can trigger these splits right before harvest time.

However, modern agricultural science is continuously advancing, offering growers novel ways to bolster pod strength and prevent shatter. From targeted breeding strategies and careful agronomic management to innovative biostimulants, multiple pathways can be used to minimise yield loss. This article explores the practical and scientific facets of increasing harvest success by preventing pod shatter, delving into the role of Ascophyllum nodosum-derived biostimulants and highlighting how growers can streamline their approach to greater profitability and sustainability.

1. Pod Shatter: A Crucial Harvest-Time Challenge

Pod shatter, known scientifically as pod dehiscence, is a natural process by which many plants distribute seeds into their environment. While beneficial for wild propagation, this trait poses a major risk in commercial agriculture:

1. Yield Reduction: Seeds tumbling onto the ground before or during harvest translate into direct income loss.
2. Volunteer Plants: Spilt seeds can germinate later as volunteer plants, resulting in weed-like competition for the following season’s crops.
3. Harvest Complexity: Even if pods do not completely split, partial cracks can cause seeds to fall out when the pods are subjected to harvesting machinery or strong weather conditions.

Farmers often attempt to adjust harvest timing to reduce shattering, but weather fluctuations and logistical constraints can complicate these efforts. For instance, a single unanticipated rainstorm or gusty wind can trigger widespread pod breakage in a matter of hours.

2. The Importance of a Uniform Harvest

A consistent, uniform harvest is desirable in every aspect of crop production. When most pods reach maturity in tandem, growers can schedule harvests more effectively, ensuring machinery usage is efficient and minimising seed loss. Pod shatter disrupts this uniformity by causing seeds to disperse from some pods earlier than others, making it nearly impossible to time the harvest precisely.

2.1 Economic Benefits of Uniform Maturity

• Reduced Equipment Costs: A single pass with a combine is far more cost-effective than multiple harvest rounds.
• Minimised Seed Losses: If pods mature in unison and remain intact, seeds are more likely to be present in pods at harvest.
• Streamlined Labour Management: Farmers and contractors can coordinate resources effectively without having to revisit the same field multiple times.

2.2 Quality Control

When pods shatter unevenly, seeds that fall early are typically more exposed to soil microorganisms, moisture fluctuations, and pest activity. Even if these seeds remain partially viable, their quality can diminish, making them less profitable or unsuitable for premium markets (e.g., certain oil or protein quality standards). Ensuring pods remain intact until a standard harvest time helps produce higher-grade seeds, boosting market value.

3. Genetic and Agronomic Measures: Laying the Foundation

Long before the development of advanced biostimulants, growers and plant breeders worked on improving shatter resistance (SR) traits and employing agronomic methods to mitigate yield losses.

3.1 Traditional Breeding and Genetic Insights

1. Shatter-Resistant Varieties: Modern seed catalogues increasingly include OSR and soybean cultivars with partial or full genetic tolerance to pod shatter. This often involves selecting for genes that reinforce pod walls or dampen the formation of a “weak seam” in the pod’s dehiscence zone.
2. Gene Identification: Researchers have pinpointed specific genes, like IND (INDEHISCENCE) in oilseed rape or PDH1.1 and SHAT1-5 in soybeans, that influence whether or not pods crack prematurely. Breeders continually explore ways to modulate these genes so the pods can withstand mechanical and environmental stress.

Despite these strides, not all growers find success purely with SR varieties. Shatter-resistant lines often bring other trade-offs: for instance, a certain SR variety might be less adaptable to local soil conditions or yield less under specific climate stressors.

3.2 Agronomic Practices

• Optimising Plant Density: Overly dense plantings can lead to excessive canopy competition, causing weaker stem and pod structures.
• Timely Harvest Schedules: Monitoring the maturity stage to strike the right balance between fully ripe pods and preventing pre-harvest weather events can help.
• Pod Sealants: Some farmers use polymer-based sprays that form a thin layer around the pods, reducing splitting. While effective to some extent, these can be costly, labour-intensive, and sometimes environmentally questionable.

Enter a new wave of solutions: biostimulants. Instead of solely depending on breeding or mechanical methods, farmers can complement their strategy with crop biostimulants designed to reinforce natural plant defences processes, particularly in the sensitive pod stage.

4. Biostimulants and Their Growing Role in Pod Protection

Over the last decade, biostimulants have garnered considerable attention in agriculture. By enhancing the plant’s own physiological functions, they sit outside the typical remit of fertilisers (nutrient supply) and pesticides (pest/disease control). Instead, biostimulants can help crops become more resilient to stress, both abiotic (e.g., drought, temperature swings) and physiological (e.g., pod shatter).

4.1 What Makes a Biostimulant?

• Origin of Materials: Biostimulants often originate from natural materials, seaweeds, beneficial microbes, organic acids, and plant hormones.
• Mechanism of Action: These products do not feed the plant directly with nutrients but induce positive changes at the hormonal or gene-expression levels, boosting resilience, nutrient uptake efficiency, and growth.
• Targeted Applications: Biostimulants can often be tailored for specific functions: root growth promotion, stress tolerance, or, as in this case, pod structure enhancement to reduce shatter.

4.2 Why Biostimulants for Pod Shatter?

Pod integrity is governed by both genetic programming (i.e., gene expression that forms and deforms the dehiscence zone) and hormonal signalling (auxins, cytokinins, gibberellins). By selectively influencing these signals, nudging the plant to fortify pod walls or moderate the splitting process, biostimulants offer a subtle but powerful tool. This can act synergistically with a farm’s existing agronomic measures, producing more uniform, robust pods that hold seeds firmly until the farmer chooses to harvest.

5. SEALICIT®: A Case Study in Seaweed-Derived Biostimulants

One of the most intriguing examples of a biostimulant that helps prevent pod shatter is SEALICIT®, produced by Brandon Bioscience. Derived from the brown seaweed Ascophyllum nodosum, SEALICIT® has demonstrated notable effects on oilseed rape and soybeans.

5.1 The Science Behind Ascophyllum nodosum

Growing in cold northern waters, Ascophyllum nodosum endures constant tidal movements, abrupt temperature changes, and strong wave action. To cope with such stressors, this seaweed synthesises:

• Marine Polysaccharides that bolster cell integrity.
• Phenolic Compounds offer antioxidant properties.
• Phytohormone Analogs (compounds resembling plant hormones) can modulate growth, stress tolerance, and other developmental processes.

Scientists have discovered that these molecules remain active when extracted and applied to land-based crops, imparting significant resilience to plants confronted with climatic and mechanical stressors.

5.2 Targeted Effects on Pod Integrity

Field trials on OSR (winter oilseed rape) have highlighted how SEALICIT® disrupts or downregulates IND, the gene responsible for controlling the formation of the pod’s dehiscence zone. By reducing IND expression, the pods in OSR hold together more robustly, lowering early seed drop and facilitating a more uniform harvest.

In soybeans, researchers examining SEALICIT®’s impact discovered that it modulates PDH1.1 and SHAT1-5 genes. PDH1.1 typically increases the forces that split the pod wall, while SHAT1-5 promotes cell wall strengthening. Reducing the former and enhancing the latter helps keep the soybean pod unbroken until the farmer decides it’s time for the combine.

5.3 Practical Field Results

• Yield Boost: Because fewer seeds scatter, farmers observe a higher seed count per square metre. Trials show yield improvements of 1–9% up to 18%, depending on the crop variety and how susceptible it is to pod shatter.
• Dose Dependency: Shatter-susceptible (SS) cultivars see the most dramatic gains when SEALICIT® is applied at the recommended doses. Shatter-resistant (SR) lines still benefit, though to a lesser degree.
• Uniform Harvest: SEALICIT®-treated pods typically ripen more consistently, making harvesting operations more predictable.

6. Implementation Strategies for Greater Harvest Success

For many growers, adopting a biostimulant like SEALICIT® represents just one part of the puzzle. A genuinely holistic approach combines:

1. Variety Selection: Start with a cultivar that is genetically robust, whether through inherent shatter resistance or an overall strong yield profile.
2. Optimised Planting: Adequate spacing and appropriate sowing times help reduce stress on individual plants.
3. Biostimulant Timing: Target application during critical growth stages, often during flowering or early pod formation, when gene expression changes can have the greatest impact.
4. Monitoring and Record-Keeping: Observe how pods develop, conduct “rupture impact tests” or mechanical stress tests, and track yield changes compared to untreated blocks.

Dosage and Compatibility

Biostimulants like SEALICIT® can typically be tank-mixed with common fertilisers or pesticides, but it is essential to follow the manufacturer’s guidelines or consult an agronomist for any potential compatibility issues. Under-application risks insufficient coverage and minimal results, while over-application could unnecessarily increase costs.

7. Broader Benefits of Reducing Pod Shatter

7.1 Economic Gains

Preventing pod shatter goes beyond salvaging a portion of seeds; it can stabilise a farm’s profitability. Seeds left in pods equate to better yield, and reduced volunteer growth in subsequent seasons translates into fewer herbicide passes or manual removal costs.

7.2 Environmental Stewardship

Because fewer seeds are scattered, the “seed bank” in the soil remains controlled, and any volunteer population that does emerge is more manageable. This can lead to:

• Less Agrochemical Dependency: Fewer weeds and volunteers mean reduced herbicide usage.
• Optimised Land Use: Retrieving the maximum yield from existing fields lessens the drive to expand farmland into natural habitats, aligning with broader sustainability goals.

7.3 Integration with Future-Focused Farming

As technologies like precision agriculture continue to evolve, data-driven growers will also appreciate the synergy with biostimulants. Leveraging satellite imagery, drones, or in-field sensors, farmers can identify which areas of a field are most prone to stress or have weaker pods, then apply targeted doses of SEALICIT® or similar products. This modern approach can further streamline inputs, cut waste, and preserve the environment while securing a high-output harvest.

8. Real-World Examples of Success

8.1 Oilseed Rape in Northern Europe

Growers in countries like the UK, Germany, and France often battle unpredictable weather, especially in the weeks leading up to harvest. Several large-scale trials with winter oilseed rape:

• Demonstrated reduced pod shattering under windy conditions once the plants had fully set their pods.
• Improved harvest uniformity, as fewer pockets of early split pods triggered partial harvest cycles.
• Led to measured yield boosts, especially in standard or lower shatter-resistance varieties, allowing these lines to perform more comparably to top-of-the-line SR cultivars.

8.2 Soybeans in the Americas

Growers in Canada, facing cool, short growing seasons, found SEALICIT® beneficial for intensifying pod wall thickness and preventing seeds from dropping as autumn weather set in. In Brazil, where hot, humid conditions can cause pods to quickly overmature or succumb to rainstorms, SEALICIT®-treated fields were shown to maintain pod integrity until the designated harvest window. Consequently:

• Shatter-susceptible soybean lines demonstrated notable improvements in seed retention and overall yield.
• Even shatter-resistant lines saw yield enhancements, reflecting that “resistance” doesn’t always equate to “immunity,” and a supportive biostimulant can still make a measurable difference.

9. Common Questions from Growers

Q1: Are There Any Negative Side Effects?

Biostimulants derived from natural materials, such as Ascophyllum nodosum, have an excellent safety profile. Tested under stringent conditions, these products rarely exhibit phytotoxicity or negative interactions when used as recommended. Indeed, they often improve the overall vigour of the plant.

Q2: How Do I Calculate Return on Investment (ROI)?

Growers should consider the cost of the biostimulant (plus any application expenses) against the yield improvements or seed savings observed. Volunteer management costs, such as extra herbicide passes, may also decline, further boosting ROI. Maintaining consistent trial plots and good record-keeping across multiple seasons can clarify ROI in specific farm contexts.

Q3: Does SEALICIT® Alter the Oil or Protein Quality of Seeds?

Far from diminishing seed quality, properly applied biostimulants like SEALICIT® can boost parameters like oil content or protein by helping the plant channel resources efficiently. 

10. The Future of Pod Shatter Prevention

With consumer demand for sustainable, high-quality agricultural products on the rise, reducing pod shatter sits squarely within global efforts to minimise waste and improve efficiency. Upcoming trends include:

1. Precision Application: Drone technologies and advanced sensors may allow pinpoint, variable-rate application of biostimulants, targeting only the areas that need additional support for pod integrity.
2. Gene Editing Advances: Techniques like CRISPR could complement or amplify the effects of biostimulants by fine-tuning gene expression tied to pod shatter.
3. Wider Adoption of Natural Solutions: Biostimulants enjoy growing acceptance among farmers seeking eco-friendly methods. As research on marine bioactive compounds accelerates, expect more products inspired by Ascophyllum nodosum and other robust seaweeds.

11. Towards More Profitable, Resilient Harvests

Pod shatter is an age-old challenge in crop production, but farmers today possess a powerful suite of solutions. The path to increasing harvest success involves choosing well-bred varieties, applying solid agronomic principles, and embracing cutting-edge biological tools such as biostimulants. By focusing on the factors that fortify pod structures, whether genetically or through applied treatments, growers can mitigate the gamble posed by late-season weather events.

Biostimulants like SEALICIT®, derived from Ascophyllum nodosum, stand out as a particularly compelling option. With demonstrated effects on key shatter-related genes, lignin reinforcement, and overall pod health, these products make it simpler for farmers to keep seeds where they belong: in the pod until harvest day. From shatter-susceptible to shatter-resistant lines, the gains in seed retention translate into real-world profitability improvements and reduced volunteer issues in subsequent rotations.

Ultimately, preventing pod shatter is about ensuring every seed, carefully nurtured from planting to maturity, finds its way into the combine rather than the ground. With the right combination of plant genetics, farming know-how, and innovative tools like seaweed-based biostimulants, growers can stay firmly on track to a more secure, sustainable, and profitable harvest season.

Next Steps

• Evaluate your current varieties and identify their inherent shatter resistance levels.
• Explore agronomic tweaks, such as adjusting seeding density or refining your harvest schedule.
• Investigate how biostimulants like SEALICIT® can slot into your existing programme.
• Keep a close watch on field data, pod firmness tests and yield metrics, to see how these approaches collectively bolster your bottom line.

By systematically implementing these strategies, you can tip the scales in favour of harvest success, capturing more of the seeds you’ve worked all season to grow. With global agriculture evolving at a rapid clip, harnessing natural solutions that safeguard yields and preserve crop integrity is the logical step forward for any forward-thinking farmer.

SEALICIT® is available in Europe through Brandon Bioscience’s partner Nufarm GmbH.