Ecotain is a common weed but has shown to reduce nitrogen leaching from urine patches.

Seed company Agricom has bred a plantain that could help reduce nitrogen leaching from dairy farms.

The company says the plantain called Ecotain is a common weed, but has shown to have the ability to reduce nitrogen leaching from urine patches.

Agricom bred and commercialised the weed into a forage cultivar with researchers at Lincoln and Massey universities and Plant and Food Research

Kate Taylor When dairy cows urinate, they deposit a high concentration of nitrogen into a small area.

Agricom New Zealand sales and marketing manager Mark Brown said Ecotain was an efficient tool developed for the farming industry to help combat the "incredibly complex issue of nitrogen leaching".

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Agricom Ecotain reduces nitrogen leaching from urine patches in four ways.

Agricom science leader Glenn Judson said plantain was not a new forage product, but research showed the genotype could result in a "significant" reduction in nitrogen leaching from a urine patch.

"Depending on factors at play on farm and the extent to which Ecotain is used, the decrease in nitrogen leaching is very significant," he said.

"In one of the research programmes where Ecotain is used in what is likely the optimal way, there was a reduction in nitrogen leaching by as much as 89 per cent from the urine patch."

Ecotain can be used in a pasture as a special purpose crop with clover, or in a grass/ clover/Ecotain mixed pasture system. It can also be oversown into existing pasture. A pure crop of Ecotain was favoured for its high summer yield and cool season activity, suited to dairy farms where the amount and quality of summer pasture often limits milk production.

Judson said sheep and beef farmers were the main users of plantain. However, results from research had been impressive for the potential of Ecotain on dairy farms, he said.

"We know that the urine patch is the greatest source of leached nitrogen. You have a cow, for example, grazing across a large area of pasture, about 140 square metres per day. When they urinate, they are depositing a high concentration of nitrogen into a minimal area compared with the size they were grazing, and that small area is the urine patch.

"The plants and soil surrounding the urine patch can't absorb all that nitrogen, so it's easily leached away below the root zone and also into the water table. Research is showing us that controlling the nitrogen in the urine patch is the most practical way of reducing nitrogen leaching on the farm."

Ecotain reduces nitrogen leaching from a urine patch by increasing the volume of cows urine which dilutes the concentration of nitrogen; reducing the total amount of nitrogen in the animal's urine, delaying the process of turning ammonium into nitrate in the urine patch, and restricting the accumulation of nitrates in the Ecotain-growing soil.

Head of Massey University's institute of agriculture and environment Peter Kemp said it was exciting to be part of breakthrough research.

"We are continuing to investigate the ways the bioactives in Ecotain decrease nitrogen losses from dairy pastures," he said. "It's sustainable farming we are proud of."

Ngai Tahu Farming, which manages 100,000ha of agriculture and forest assets, already uses Ecotain in some of its farms.

"We take an intergenerational approach to our use of the land, and the continued improvement of environmental outcomes is of the utmost importance to our farming operations," said farming chief executive Andrew Priest.

"Using Ecotain supports our values, and we're pleased to be able to share our experience for the benefit of the wider farming industry."