Why water use efficiency wins under limited irrigation
Water scarcity has become one of the defining challenges of modern agriculture. Across many production regions, rainfall is becoming less predictable, evaporation rates are rising, and competition for water resources is intensifying. For growers of high-value crops such as potatoes, grapes, tree fruit, and vegetables, even short-term water shortages can translate into lower yields, reduced fruit quality, and diminished profitability. Maintaining productivity under these conditions requires a focus on water use efficiency; the plant’s ability to take up, retain, and utilise water effectively. When this is optimised, crops produce more yield from each litre of water, tolerate stress for longer periods, and sustain both quality and output throughout the growing season. ISKAMAR® is designed specifically to deliver this advantage.
What is ISKAMAR® with PSI®433 Precision Technology?
ISKAMAR® is a precision-engineered biostimulant developed using Brandon Bioscience’s PSI®433 Precision Technology, which fine-tunes plant signalling molecules to trigger specific agronomic responses. The formulation contains a unique complex of marine oligosaccharides enriched with calcium and organic acids, carefully selected to improve water uptake, retention, and utilisation. It is the result of targeted extraction and formulation processes that ensure consistent bioactive performance. By acting directly on plant physiology, ISKAMAR® enables growers to maintain yield potential in seasons of drought or deficit irrigation, while also supporting performance in unstressed years. Its high concentration allows for low application rates, reducing packaging, transport, and storage needs, and its suitability for organic farming means it aligns with sustainable production goals.
How ISKAMAR® supports stomatal control and raises relative water content
Plants lose water primarily through tiny pores in their leaves known as stomata. Under drought stress, plants instinctively close these pores to reduce water loss, but this can come at a cost, as closed stomata also restrict the entry of carbon dioxide needed for photosynthesis. If the closure is too tight or prolonged, growth slows and yield potential falls. ISKAMAR® helps the plant to optimise stomatal function, allowing enough closure to conserve water while maintaining sufficient aperture for gas exchange. This fine balance enables continued photosynthesis during stress periods, ensuring that biomass production and energy supply to developing fruits is not interrupted.
Relative water content, or RWC, is a key measure of plant water status and an indicator of the plant’s hydration relative to its fully saturated state. High RWC reflects good turgor pressure, healthy metabolic activity, and resilience against wilting. In multi-year potato trials under significant agricultural drought, ISKAMAR® consistently improved RWC throughout the season. This translated into marketable yield increases of over sixteen per cent compared to untreated controls, alongside more uniform tuber size and stronger canopy retention. These results demonstrate that ISKAMAR® influences not just water loss but the plant’s overall water balance and functional capacity under stress.
The science behind ISKAMAR®
The performance of ISKAMAR® is the result of the synergy between its marine carbohydrate complex, calcium enrichment, and organic acids. Marine carbohydrates act as plant signalling molecules, activating stress-response pathways. Calcium plays a central role in maintaining cell wall integrity and regulating the guard cells that control stomatal movement, while organic acids enhance nutrient mobility and root uptake. Together, these components improve osmotic balance by encouraging the accumulation of compatible solutes such as proline and soluble sugars, regulate aquaporin gene expression to enhance water transport, and promote efficient movement of carbohydrates and calcium within the plant. ISKAMAR® also stimulates the production of defence proteins and secondary metabolites, further strengthening plant resilience to water deficit conditions.
Proven performance under water deficit
Extensive trials have shown that ISKAMAR® delivers measurable benefits in a range of crops. Potatoes have maintained canopy function and tuber development under drought, leading to significant yield retention. In vegetables, it has helped preserve quality characteristics such as firmness, colour, and flavour, even when irrigation was limited. Grapevines treated with ISKAMAR® have shown improved berry set and size during dry, hot spells, while in tree and soft fruit, its use has reduced the risk of fruit drop and shrivelling associated with water stress. Across these crops, trials have recorded average yield increases of more than fifteen per cent under stressed conditions, alongside consistently higher RWC readings and improved transport of carbohydrates and nutrients to reproductive tissues.
Application programmes and timings
For crops facing sudden or anticipated drought periods, ISKAMAR® should be applied at a rate of two to four litres per hectare before the onset of stress, followed by one litre per hectare every fourteen days during the stress period, up to a maximum total of four litres per hectare. Where growers operate a deficit irrigation strategy, ISKAMAR® can be applied at three intervals of three litres per hectare, targeting the vegetative growth phase, flowering, and fruit set or fattening stages. These timings ensure that the plant’s water management systems are primed ahead of the most sensitive periods of growth and yield formation.
Tank-mixing and integration into farm programmes
ISKAMAR® is compatible with most crop nutrition and protection inputs, especially those within a slightly acidic pH range. For growers aiming to track their impact, canopy temperature can be monitored with an infrared thermometer, while relative water content can be assessed through laboratory analysis of leaf samples. Observing canopy turgor and flowering patterns during stress periods also provides a practical measure of field performance.
Economics, yield protection, and sustainability
By enabling crops to maintain productivity with reduced water volumes, ISKAMAR® delivers a dual economic benefit. Yield and quality are preserved, protecting revenue, while lower irrigation volumes translate into reduced pumping, labour, and water costs. This positions ISKAMAR® as not just a stress-mitigation tool but a profitability enhancer, offering returns in both challenging seasons and high-performance production systems. The product’s role in reducing input requirements further aligns it with the sustainability objectives now shaping agricultural policy and market demand.
How ISKAMAR® differs from other water-stress tools
Many tools on the market aim to manage water stress, but ISKAMAR® stands apart in its mode of action. Anti-transpirants act externally, coating leaves to limit water loss, but can also hinder gas exchange and photosynthesis. Wetting agents focus on soil moisture dynamics rather than plant physiology. ISKAMAR® works from within the plant, triggering its own water-saving mechanisms, enhancing osmotic balance, and improving nutrient transport. This integrated, internal approach offers more sustained benefits without the trade-offs associated with some alternative strategies.
Frequently asked questions
Growers often ask whether ISKAMAR® delivers results in unstressed conditions. The answer is yes: while the greatest benefits are seen during water stress, trials also show advantages in well-watered crops through improved water status and nutrient movement. Visible differences, such as improved leaf turgor, can often be seen within one to two weeks under stress conditions. Crops in reproductive stages or with high water sensitivity tend to show the most significant gains, although benefits are not limited to these phases.
Take the next step
If you are ready to improve water use efficiency, protect yield under drought, and reduce irrigation costs, our technical team can design an ISKAMAR® programme tailored to your crop, region, and management system. Contact us today to speak with our team and discover how ISKAMAR® can deliver measurable results in your fields.
