Clutha, Otago Silage Part 1: Fungal Feeder Results After 10 Days

We’re putting BioCharge Fungal Feeder head to head with a traditional urea programme on a cut-and-carry block in Clinton, in Otago’s Clutha District, producing silage for dairy cows.

The first soil biology results are encouraging. The next silage cut will help show how that biological potential translates into pasture production.

Our first Soil Foodweb results came back 10 days after an initial Fungal Feeder application of 30 litres per hectare. Compared with the traditional control, the programme paddock showed:

That is a striking early difference. Urea had been applied three weeks before the Fungal Feeder application, so that earlier input is part of the history behind these results.

These are comparisons between paddocks at the first sampling. Without measurements from before treatment, we cannot yet establish how much of the difference came from Fungal Feeder.

Both photos show the Fungal Feeder paddock. White growth consistent with fungal hyphae was visible among the pasture litter. No comparable visible fungal growth was seen in the traditional control during our visit.

These field observations sit alongside the higher total and active fungal biomass measured in the Fungal Feeder paddock. The control still contained active fungi in the laboratory test, despite no comparable growth being visible in the paddock. The photos alone cannot confirm mycorrhizal fungi working with plant roots. Mycorrhizal colonisation can be checked by examining prepared root samples under a microscope. How mycorrhizal root colonisation is assessed.

The first cut is now complete. We want to put the programmes on a more even footing for the next comparison, following regrowth from this cut through to the next silage harvest.

The second application steps Fungal Feeder up to 60 litres per hectare, alongside 3 kg of potassium humate per hectare, 15 kg of urea per hectare and Silara N30. We have chosen the 60 L/ha rate because our research so far points to it as the best value for the response we are targeting.

The traditional control receives 150 kg of urea per hectare per application. The control also received 300 kg of potassium per hectare in this application. Both urea figures are per application, so our programme uses 90% less urea at each application.

That is an input comparison, with the dry matter result still to come. We will record all inputs and application dates and compare the dry matter harvested per hectare at the next cut, expected before Christmas.

Soil Foodweb NZ reported the following results on 8 November 2026:

*µg/g means micrograms per gram of soil. Active percentages are calculated from the laboratory’s biomass measurements.

The programme paddock’s total fungi-to-bacteria ratio was within the laboratory’s reference range for pasture. The lab also observed some large, healthy fungal hyphae—the threads that make up fungal growth.

There is still room to improve. Active fungal and bacterial biomass remained below the laboratory’s reference levels in both paddocks, and the programme paddock had lower total bacterial biomass. We will keep tracking both groups.

Fungi can take up nitrogen and hold it in their living biomass. Grassland research has linked greater fungal abundance with stronger microbial nitrogen retention. That provides a scientific reason to investigate fungal biomass as part of our programme. Read the grassland nitrogen-retention study.

Holding nitrogen in biology and making it available to pasture are connected processes, but their timing matters. Nitrogen held in growing fungi can be temporarily unavailable to roots. Biological turnover and organisms feeding on microbes can help return nitrogen to available forms, although increasing fungal biomass does not automatically increase nitrogen release. Read the research on fungal nitrogen retention and cycling.

Both paddocks already showed encouraging estimated nitrogen-cycling potential. Our goal is to turn that potential into measured pasture uptake while protecting dry matter. A fungal ratio near 1:1 cannot guarantee that outcome; the soil and crop measurements need to show it.

For this dairy-silage block, the main measure is dry matter harvested per hectare. The next cut is expected before Christmas, giving the second application a full regrowth period to show what it can do.

Hamish and Alex will coordinate follow-up soil biology and herbage testing ahead of that cut. We will track:

• Dry matter harvested per hectare in each paddock.
• Herbage nitrogen and feed quality to understand the feed produced.
• Fungal and bacterial biomass and activity to follow the biology.
• Products, rates and application dates in both programmes.

Combining herbage nitrogen concentration with harvested dry matter will help us assess how much nitrogen is being taken up and removed in the crop.

This is what BioCharge’s research programme aims to establish scientifically with farmers: whether supporting soil biology can maintain or improve dry matter production with lower urea inputs, while building longer-term soil health and feed value.

We are building that evidence through repeated measurements on working farms, under the conditions farmers manage every day.