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Water Recharge The Zytonic Way

The water levels in most of the fields have gone down substantially in the last 30-50 years. Every year, receiving 101.6 cms of rain means getting 0.45 centimeter of water per acre in our fields. Typically, due to soil hardness and compaction by the time the third rain comes the water along with soil organic carbon and nutrients like NPK starts flowing out of our fields to surrounding lakes and rivers. On an average, around 0.15 centimeter of water, i.e. one third part of the 0.45 centimeter water evaporates in a year.

Zytonic M when applied in full dose makes the soil soft and porous and keeps it that way throughout the season. The use of Zytonic M ensures that no matter whatever kind of rainfall is received, whether heavy or light, every drop of rain gets absorbed in the fields due to improved infiltration capacity.

One flood irrigation cycle requires approximately 100,00 litres of water per acre. Zytonic M has a very unique water holding capacity. With full dose of Zytonic M the irrigation cycle can be extended from 15 days to 25 days. Hence a farmer would not need more than maximum
10-12 cycles throughout the year.

So in conclusion, a full does of Zytonic M ensures soft and porous soil structure, high infiltration capacity and 0.18-0.2 centimeter water recharge every year, for sustainable agriculture.

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Perpetual Pavements

Perpetual Pavements are pavements designed and constructed to last > 50 years, with maintenance restricted to the wearing course alone. Perpetual pavements have high structural strength and offer long term resistance to two most devastating distresses i.e. structural rutting and fatigue cracking, keeping the compressive and tensile strains below the failure limits.

Traditionally, highways are designed for a 20 year design life, whereas perpetual pavements are expected to perform for 50 years or more. These pavements are designed with a strong, flexible bottom layer that resists cracking under heavy traffic loads and cyclic weather variations. Several practices such as soil stabilisation using materials like cement, lime, bitumen emulsion and installation of geogrids & geotextiles are adopted to ensure a strong and dimensionally stable base. These practices help improve the engineering properties of the bottom layers. New and emerging technologies such as organosilanes & polymers, offers further improvement in terms of moisture resistance, higher strength and flexible nano bonding. This increases the durability (lifespan) of the pavement layers significantly. Use of emulsion additives also help in effective bonding of the different layers for uniform load/stress transfer.

The bituminous layers of the pavements offer flexibility and resistance to deformations. However, factors such as material variability and operational inefficiencies causes serious problems which lead to premature failures. For example, improper coating of the bitumen on aggregate surface results in water ingress and delamination of the layers, thereby reducing its ability to withstand heavy loads. Therefore, bitumen additives are used at times, to improve the properties of the bituminous mixes. Bitumen additives such as anti stripping agents improve the cohesion between aggregate & bitumen and ensures a tightly bonded structure, thereby facilitating better stress transfer under heavy loads. This eventually translates to longer pavement life. Innovative practices such as the use of Warm Mix Asphalt provides additional environmental benefits by facilitating reduced odor & emissions, lesser fuel consumption and paving friendliness.

The benefit of restricting distress formation to the top layer, is to ensure that when distresses exceed tolerance limits, the distressed top layer can be removed and resurfaced with an asphalt overlay. Cost effective solutions such as microsurfacing or slurry seal can be adopted to ensure a smooth ride quality, thereby reducing the maintenance costs and time.

Perpetual pavements, therefore, offer a durable, long-lasting road, with cost-effective maintenance that restricts traffic disruption thereby saving time for road users and the maintenance crew. Reduced maintenance also conserve the use of the scarce natural resources such as aggregates and bitumen, to provide significant environmental benefits as well as cost savings.

The future lies in high-strength pavements that are faster to construct using limited natural resources, and when constructed for perpetuity, will never need to be reconstructed.

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ZYTONIC M for rubust yields and profitable farming

Our planet today is facing multiple challenges with soil fertility, dropping water table, reduction in organic carbon and excess use of chemical inputs leading to agri related pollution issues.

To address these issues, Zydex has developed the Zytonic Soil amendment technology inoculated with mycorrhiza. It addresses all the aspects physical, biological and chemical properties of farm soils.

Physical: Zytonic-M is a biodegradable biology boosting technology. It makes soils soft and reduces crusting, thereby improving germination. Zytonic also makes soil porous and enhances soil water holding capacity and aeration leading to a larger and denser root zone to improve plant survival rates even under adverse conditions.

Biological: Porous soils improve gas exchange, which helps in boosting the population and activity of beneficial bacteria, fungi, protozoa and nematodes. The mycorrhiza inoculum in Zytonic-M helps to further extend the root zone and enhances nutrient and water absorption. This leads to 20-40% water savings and 25-50% chemical fertilizer savings from the first application itself.

A large root zone and active biology further improves plant resistance to pest and fungal attack leading to healthy, disease resilient crops.

Chemical: Zytonic-M improves the soil Cation & Anion exchange capacity thereby improving crop nutrient uptake efficiency. This results in darker green foliage indicating higher chlorophyll content and enhanced rate of photosynthesis with adequate sugar and carbohydrate production. The excess liquid carbon feeds the enhanced soil biology and improves the soil organic content.

Zytonic-M when applied through irrigation shows an impact within 4-6 days in the form of improved greenery and vigour just like chemical fertilizers.

Zytonic-M treated fields have consistently produced 15-50% higher yields with improved quality of farm produce. Chemical fertilizer savings of up to 50% and water savings of 20-40% are added benefits.

Zytonic-M ensures porous soils to hold moisture in drought like conditions but at the same time allows excess rains to percolate easily without flooding. This improves crop survival and growth under adverse weather conditions. This also ensures rainwater harvesting.

We at Zydex believe that this technology has the potential to change the way agriculture is done on a global scale. As an organization our vision with this technology is to empower farmers and enable profitable & sustainable farming for nutritious, safe and affordable food for all.

How to use Zytonic-M:

Dissolve Zytonic-M powder in water, in the proportion of 1 is to 100 and apply through Irrigation.
OR
Broadcast Zytonic-M powder prior to Irrigation/Rainfall. In case of basal application prior to sowing, broadcast ZM powder in the open field and rotovate to mix it in the top 6-9 inches of soil.

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Enduring structures with nanotechnology based waterproofing solutions

The construction industry, along with other industries is responsible for generating enormous quantities of waste, in various forms. The huge amount of accumulated waste not only poses a threat to the atmosphere as most of it is difficult to recycle, but also consumes huge space for stocking. This along with the unrestrained and haphazard exploitation of mineral resources like stone, clay, lime, coal, sand that are used by the construction industry in large amounts, has led to a major impact on environment and climate change along with depletion of natural resources.

These factors have made it pertinent for the Construction and Infrastructure Industry to find ways and techniques to mitigate these perils by effecting innovative solutions and design structures that are not only captivating but ultra-durable. Easy on the environment to produce but durable enough not to become a victim to nature’ forces.

However, its easy said than done, as harsh weathering influences and water infiltration remain the major deterrents to enduring structures. Prolonged exposure to water causes accelerated ageing and damage to civil structures. Water infiltration causes both aesthetic and structural damage. Conventional waterproofing chemicals and waterproofing membranes form a barrier over these civil structures to prevent water ingress. However, they are incapable of penetrating the micro cracks and pore channels. With time, most of these waterproofing chemical products generally peel-off and crack on account of thermal and UV degradation, resulting in complete waterproofing failure as physical adhesion has its limitations.

The ineffectiveness of conventional waterproofing membranes on account of its impenetrable structure gave rise to the innovation of a new generation penetrative organosilane technology.

Understanding Nanotechnology

Nanotechnology, one of the most breakthrough innovations in the recent years, still remains an elusive subject since the common man is not exposed to the technology.
In the metric system of measurement, “Nano” equals a billionth and therefore a nanometer is one-billionth of a meter. Just to appreciate the size, a human hair is over 1,00,000 nanometers long; therefore, it is virtually outside the nanoscale range!

Nanotechnology based waterproofing

For the first time, a nanotechnology based waterproofing agent, has been developed.

This advance penetrative nanotechnology changes the basic nature of the structure from hydrophilic to hydrophobic making the water absorbing structure substrate, water resistant. This prevents water ingress in the structure and checks ageing of the structure.

The result is, significant life extension of the structures and optimized resource preservation.
The salient features of this new technology are:

  • Long Useful Service Life (UV stability upto 20 years)
  • Water Soluble – 20 times its volume (cutting transportation cost)
  • Easy to Apply (colloquially speaking, is Idiot-proofed, eliminating misapplication)
  • Eco-friendly (meets the toughest Californian VOC norms)
  • Affordable (can be even considered for Low-cost mass housing)
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Most Common Types of Printing in Textile

PIGMENT PRINTING

Pigments are generally colored, organic or inorganic solid powder. They are insoluble coloring matter mostly mineral origin which are used for the coloration of metal wood, stone, and textile material. These pigments does not have any affinity with fibers. They are used with the binder system for printing. The binder ensures that pigment particles remain on fibre by forming a film on the fabric surface. Long macromocules of binder together with binder and thickener forms a 3-dimensional links on heat fixation. In the fixation process, the printed fabrics are treated with heat cure at 150 °C. This can be done in heat press or hot mangle, or in industrial process, in curing oven. The heat activates the binder to adhere the pigments onto the surface of the cloth. Unlike dye applications, fabrics printed with pigments do not require washing after fixations.

Advantages of pigment printing system

  • Easily applicable
  • Less expensive
  • Highly efficient because of the elimination of washing-off and other finishing processes
  • No pollution

WATER BASED INKS

Water based inks uses water as a solvent. The ink seeps into the fabric and binds with the fibres leaving good fastness. Water based inks are the most widely used printing chemicals for apparel printing due to the multifarious utilities they offer. Below are some of the benefits which make water based inks supersede other printing chemicals

  • Eco-friendly: One of the biggest reason why water based inks are extensively used is that they are free from harmful chemicals such as phthalates and plasticisers and are PVC free inks
  • Sharp and softer prints: Water based inks sit deep into the fabric rather than merely sitting on top like plastisols thereby giving softer touch, thinner and shaper prints
  • More breathable prints : Water from the ink gets evaporated on drying after printing, making the printed area more breathable compared to plastisols which form a layer of solvent on the surface making it less breathable

REACTIVE PRINTING

Reactive printing has been the mainstay of printing fabrics due to depth, brilliancy, soft feel and good crock and washing fastness. However reactive dyes require alkaline fixation, consuming large quantities of water for washing. Due to lack of 100% fixation dye contaminated water is produced. The final color depth and tone cannot be ascertained until the fabric is fully processed. This can be termed as blind printing which results into rejection due to color matching issues.

ECO FRIENDLY PRINTING SOLUTIONS FOR REACTIVE REPLACEMENT

Zydex offer the Epricon package which is based on eco-friendly water based pigment systems with depth, solidity, soft feel and excellent crock and washing fastness just like reactive printing. There is no effluent stream generated unlike reactive dying. Zydex also enables printers to move towards eliminating discharge printing processes without compromising on print quality and feel. Our rotary grade water based inks are designed for highest opacity, hand feel and washing fastness mimicking discharge printing thereby eliminating water washing step.

ADVANTAGES

  • Replacement of Reactive will eliminate pollution
  • Water saving up to 60%
  • Higher productivity due to removal of multiple pre and post printing processes
  • Being a direct printing technique it will reduce rejections
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Why Adhesion Promoters?

Bitumen is used in road construction industry due to its adhesive property. However, bitumen has low chemical affinity towards aggregates, while aggregates have high affinity to water. Wetting of aggregates is difficult in the presence of dust or water-wet aggregate as it is difficult for the oily bitumen to displace the present water.

Water may also enter into the pavement structure, by way of capillary action from subgrade, rainfall seeping through cracks and shoulders, or by the action pressing and pumping effect of the water caused by the front and back tyres of vehicles. The presence of water compromises the adhesion between the aggregate and the bitumen, resulting in stripping. This causes moisture induced damage thereby resulting in premature failure of the road. Therefore, bitumen additives are used to improve the adhesion between the aggregate and bitumen, which is vital for maintaining a longer pavement service life.

Adhesion Promoters, also known as Antistripping agents, are additives generally added into hot bitumen. Upon addition, they migrate to the aggregate bitumen interface, where they act as binding agents/glue, thereby increasing and reinforcing the adhesion between the aggregate surface and the bitumen, thus preventing the penetration of water into the aggregate surface. The choice of adhesion promoters depend on factors such as the type of the aggregate and bitumen being used.

ZycoTherm is a next generation Antistripping agent that reacts with the residual moisture on the aggregate surface, to provide better wetting and coating of bitumen. It forms a permanent chemical bond with the aggregate and improves the adhesion between the bitumen and aggregate. The permanence of the bond formed ensures that the adhesive property does not deplete over time.

ZycoTherm is compatible with all aggregate and bitumen types, works at significantly lower dosages and is an environment friendly additive that is non-corrosive and odour-free.

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Screen Printing: Importance of Choosing a Right Screen in Textile Fabric Printing

Screen printing is one of the most popular printing techniques used in a wide range of industries, including textiles. It is the process of pressing ink through a stenciled mesh screen to create a printed design. Special screen printing ink or water-based printing ink are used in this technique. The core of the screen printing process involves a fine mesh or screen, which is the most crucial part of the printing process. A small difference in the screen can make or break your brand due to the quality of the print. Consequently, it is salient to select and create an ideal screen for printing.

Before we talk about screens, it is important to know the concept of mesh count. A screen is nothing but a fiber cloth. Mesh count of a screen indicates the number of fibers present in one square inch of the fabric. A mesh count of 110T means 110 fiber threads are present in one square inch of the fabric. Mesh count varies from one fabric to another fabric. Generally, it starts with 40T fabric and goes up to 200T. Lower mesh count indicates an open or coarser screen, while higher mesh counts are denser and have lesser openings between them. This means lower the mesh count higher will be the ink deposition through screen leading to heavy or bulk deposition and higher the mesh count lesser will be the screen print ink deposition leading to finer prints. The mesh count may also affect the feel of the printed substrate. Therefore it is important to select an ideal screen mesh for good quality printing.

CHOOSING THE RIGHT MESH FOR YOUR SCREEN

25T – 40T Mesh: They are used for large particle size inks such as glitter paste, pearl paste, etc. The coarser mesh will allow the glitter particles to pass easily through the substrate, thereby leading to heavy ink deposition.

40T – 60T Mesh: Use them for finer glitter design where the particle size is 8mm and below.

80T – 110T Mesh: They are used for speciality printing inks such as puff, silicon ink etc. The design of speciality print may vary from line to blotch dots. Select screen size as per the design.

110T – 160T Mesh: They are the most commonly used screen meshes for printing. Screens on the lower end of the mesh count spectrum put down heavier ink deposits and are ideal for printing under bases or printing bold colors on dark fabrics. At the higher end of the mesh count spectrum, you can print a more detailed image while maintaining a fair ink deposit.

160T Mesh and above: Screens beyond 160 mesh count are used for printing finer print designs giving a sharper look and softer feel. Inks are prone to choking in these screen meshes when they tend to dry. Make sure to select ink having a slower drying profile. You can add retarder whenever required to avoid screen choking.

TIPS FOR IDEAL SCREEN MAKING:

      • Use yellow color (dyed) fabric for high mesh counts to get good exposing as white fabric scatter more light leading to under-exposing of screens.
      • Stretch the bolting cloth and leave it for 15 minutes. Let the bolting cloth relax in between stretching. Stretch the bolting cloth again till it is tight enough.
      • Use tension meter every time while a screen cloth is bolted. Try to keep the tension in between 25 to 30 N/cm for better print results. A loose screen may give uneven ink deposition on the substrate.
      • Attach the fabric to the frame with the use of epoxy type adhesive only.
      • Measure the tension with the help of tension meter in both the directions at all measuring points (25 TO 30 N/CM)
      • During screen exposing use a silver foil on the inner sidewall of the exposing table to get more exposure.
      • Exposing table surface should be clean. There should not be any scratches on the glass surface.
      • Use exposure calculators for measuring the time of exposure. Over and under exposure would affect your final print. For finer mesh counts keep exposing time a bit longer than usual time.
      • The emulsion coating must be performed in the darkroom under extremely stringent conditions. No extraneous light can be allowed into the room.
      • Use automatic emulsion coater so that the emulsion is spread evenly. Uneven emulsion coating will lead to uneven printing on the substrate.

The steps mentioned above will ensure that the screen is flawless and will be ideal for printing.

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Concrete Joint Sealant

Concrete Joint Sealant

To prolong the life of the structure and maintain its beauty and durability even when the most important concrete structure has damaged, the solution is to repair it and provide it with the strength of a monolithic structure.

When the concrete layer/surface/floor gets damaged, the only options available are either repairing it or building a new one after demolishing it. Demolishing and creating a new surface is not always possible due to many factors, which include the availability of space for the new construction, load on the structure, etc. Even though a new surface is created, the characteristics of the new surface will be polylithic surface.

It will never have the physical and chemical characteristics of a monolithic surface. Removal of the floor and re-pouring of it is not economic and also takes a lot of time. It will also be a waste of resources if the flooring is still structurally sound. Hence, the only option left is of adding a new/fresh layer of concrete on top of the old surface.

Cold Joints

The major requirement of the new/repaired structure is to not have any weakness or failure points. Due to a lack of concrete bonding, these structures are generally vulnerable to failure/fracture/cracking at the joints between the new and the old surface/structure. These joints are called Cold Joints.

In technical terms, a cold joint is a plane of weakness in concrete caused due to interruption/delay/new structure formation in the concreting operations. Because of these joints, the new and old surface does not act as one and the load or any impact is not evenly shared between them. In this situation, these joints act as weak points and are the most vulnerable for failure/fracture/cracking.

The same phenomenon is observed during the laying of a new PCC/RCC structure and also during tile fixing. During the extension of buildings or section-wise structure creation, the PCC/RCC structures are generally left with these cold joints, which is the main cause of structural damage and failures.

During Tile/Marble/Stone fixing operations, the same polylithic surfaces/structure are created resulting in non-monolithic strength and hence, leading to cold joints. These joints are the main cause of structural damage and failures leaving to Tile/Marble/Stone falling off the structure.

Cold Bond – Concrete Joint Sealant from Zydex

To address these structural and joint problems, Zydex provides a set of concrete or cement bonding solutions that can be applied on the surface easily for achieving the monolithic strength and properties. Cold Bond is a concrete joint sealant from Zydex that can be applied on the old surface (with just a use of brush and do not require any other equipment) and then the new construction can be carried out. This concrete or cement bonding solution will create a bond between the two surfaces that allows them to reach monolithic strength.

ZycoFix from Zydex

Similarly, Zydex provides a separate solution – ZycoFix for Tile/Marble/Stone fixing application. These solutions are very easy to use, user-friendly and can be applied by just using a brush. To apply ZycoFix Stone, Marble or Tile Adhesive, no extra application machinery is required and can be done at any location without any extra time requirement.

These applications also do not necessarily require skilled labour and can be done very quickly.
Hence, the problems of cold joints at both concrete to concrete structure or/and Tile/Marble/Stone fixing applications can easily and economically be solved using Zydex solutions.

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Key Role of Leveling Agents and Wetting Agents in Textile Dyeing Industry

The market acceptance of the fabric depends on the fabric appeal (comfort). Fabrics are not just intermingling of yarns but they are product of precise manufacturing process where the processer faces hurdles in form of complex designs, shade variations, manufacturing defects, variation from standard etc.
Dyeing is a process of colouring fibres, yarns, or fabrics with either natural or synthetic dyes. This colouring is done by use of wet and dry processing techniques. In case of wet processing, textile material is coloured by bringing it in contact with the dye solution.

Some of the key parameters affecting the dyeing process are surface tension, capillary effect, surface unevenness, polar action etc.

Non-uniform patchy dyeing occurs due to:

  • Substrate deformity
  • Poor processing conditions
  • Incorrect dye stuff selection

Hence to overcome this hurdles, dyeing & leveling chemicals like levelling agent, dispersing agents along with wetting agents are used.

Levelling agents

Levelling agent are chemical agent’s that work on the dye molecule and help in fixing the dye particles uniformly which enables to obtain uniform shade. Levelling agents are also termed as retarding agents or retarders.

Key role of levelling agent in dyeing:

Levelling agent are key for successful dyeing in situations where dye tends to rush on to the substrate giving non uniform dyeing.

Levelling agent competes with the dyes having affinity towards substrate. Hence they slow down the dye uptake of the substrate enabling production of uniform colour. Hence, they are also called retarding agents

Type of levelling agents

This surface active agents and may be anionic, cationic or non-ionic organic compounds. Accordingly, they are used for varied substrates as detailed below.

Substrate type Ion type Type of dye
Wool, Nylon, Cationic Basic, Acid, MetalComplex, Reactive
Acrylic, Wool, Nylon,Substrate type Weakly cationic Acid, Mordant, MetalComplex
Wool, Nylon, Polyester Nonionic/Cationic Direct milling, Metal Complex, Disperse
Wool Anionic Acid, Mordant, Metal Complex, Reactant
Cotton Cationic/Polymeric Vat, Sulphur
Wool Amphoteric Acid, Mordrant, MetalComplex, Reactive
Cotton, Wool, Nylon, Polyester Non-Ionic/Anionic Azoic, Vat, Direct milling, Metal Complex, Disperse
Cotton, Wool, Nylon, Polyester Weakly Anionic Acid, Direct, Disperse
Polyester Anionic/Cationic Acid, Metal-Complex

For Synthetic and its blends, generally the levelling agents are used that can withstand higher temp of dyeing, Say 130°C. These are the condensates of ethylene oxide and higher fatty alcohol, fatty amines.

Cloud point is very import while deciding levelling agent. The solubility of levelling agents in water reduces with increase in temperature and at a certain temperature they become insoluble. This temperature is called cloud point.

Zydex manufactures single component multi-functional product “Zycol DL” which is next generation surface active material for improving dispersing & levelling action of disperse dyes on substrates like polyester fibres, yarns and fabrics.

This new chemistry enables better dispersion of disperse dyes in water at high temperature.
Moreover the product has high cloud point which enables better levelling and brightness

Wetting agents

Another important auxiliary used in dyeing are wetting agents. Wetting agents are basically surfactants that lower the surface tension of a liquid, allowing easier spreading, and lower the interfacial tension between two liquids.

Each wetting agent molecule has a hydrophilic (water-loving) head a hydrophobic (water-hating) tail.

They help in accelerating the wet ability of material in solution & thus help in easy penetration of dyes into substrate.

Zydex Industries manufactures low and high molecular weight polymeric surfactant based wetting agents that provide excellent cleaning action for waxes and oils from cotton as well polyester surface. The wetting agents make the fiber surface clean and help improve the solidity of reactive and disperse dyeing.

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Zydex Biofertilizers
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Zydex Biofertilizers: The Next Generation Agri Technology

The practice of uncontrolled use of chemical fertilizers over the past many decades has resulted in damaged soils, reduced fertility, harmful chemical riddled produce and has a negative impact on the environment. In order to address this problem, Zydex has developed a new generation bio-fertilizer technology that has the ability to improve soil health and biology leading to improved water and nutrient uptake without the need for external harmful chemical inputs. This has been proven time and time again and the results are clearly visible from the first cycle itself as witnessed by thousands of farmers till date.

So what are bio-fertilizers? Biofertilizers are farm inputs that contain microorganisms such as bacteria and fungi that act as an inoculum to aid in reviving soil biology and activity leading to improved nutrient uptake. However conventional bio-fertilizers are not able to revive the soil biology fast enough to be able to reduce chemical dependence leading to lower yields associated with conventional organic farming. The Zytonic Bio-fertilizer Technology improves soil porosity and softness leading to an optimum environment to boost soil biological growth and activity at a much faster pace. The results are clear… the Zytonic Bio-fertilizer technology has the ability to maintain and even increase yields with zero chemical fertilizer inputs from the first season itself and this is what sets it apart. Zytonic treated soils have high and sufficient biological activity in the form of beneficial bacteria, fungi (mycorrhiza), protozoa and nematodes that continuously recycle nutrients already present in the soil thereby eliminating the dependence of chemical fertilizers. Another key feature due to improved soil health and porosity is an extended white root zone and a large active rhizosphere to increase the surface area of water and nutrient absorption.

The organic certified Zytonic biofertilizer Technology is an excellent alternative to chemical fertilizers as they improve soil health, crop yield, and are environmentally friendly leading to safe, nutritious and plenty food for all.

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