Farming for the Future: Cutting Nitrogen Waste While Growing Better Artichokes

As fertiliser costs continue to rise and markets increasingly demand more environmentally sustainable farming practices, growers are under pressure to find smarter, more efficient tools to improve crop productivity. One of the most effective strategies emerging today is not simply increasing nutrient input, but instead, changing how a plant grows—optimising internal nutrient use and hormonal signalling to better direct energy toward economically valuable outputs.

At Levity Crop Science, our groundbreaking research into Lono Calcium highlights the unique ability of stabilised amine nitrogen to help artichoke growers achieve greater yields. This is achieved by altering the plant’s phenotype—steering energy away from excessive leafy growth and toward the development of reproductive structures like artichoke heads, which are the true harvestable yield.

The Problem with Conventional Nitrogen

The nitrogen forms supplied by most traditional fertilisers are chemically unstable in soil conditions. For example, urea and ammonium nitrogen rapidly convert, through microbial nitrification, into nitrate (NO₃⁻). This form is highly mobile, prone to leaching, and readily lost from the root zone.

As a result, the majority of nitrogen actually available to crops in the field ends up in the nitrate form. While nitrate is useful, it promotes lush vegetative growth at the expense of root strength and reproductive performance. The consequences are:

• A canopy-heavy plant that overspends on foliage
• Lower nutrient use efficiency due to loss pathways
• Hormonal imbalances that suppress root and bud initiation

Additionally, plants require amine (NH₂⁺) nitrogen for cytokinin synthesis and early root and bud development. Unfortunately, most fertilisers fail to supply amine nitrogen in a stable, usable form. This creates a hidden deficiency, skewing plant behaviour away from optimal yields.

How Lono Calcium Corrects the Balance

Lono Calcium delivers nitrogen in a stabilised amine form, protected by Levity’s proprietary LimiN® technology. This patented innovation ensures: ✅ More nitrogen remains available in the biologically preferred amine form ✅ Enhanced cytokinin production that stimulates buds and roots ✅ Rebalanced internal signals that direct energy toward reproductive organs, not just leaf tissue

By maintaining a usable supply of amine nitrogen, Lono Calcium provides plants with the tools to make smarter internal growth decisions. Instead of allocating energy to oversized canopies, crops invest more into harvestable yield, improving returns without increasing input costs.

Field Trial Results – Watsonville, CA

A commercial field trial in Watsonville, California (2019) examined how artichokes responded to Lono Calcium compared to untreated controls. Plants were evaluated for size, head uniformity, and overall yield.

Agronomists took systematic samples, measuring every 10th plant by head size in square inches.

Key Outcomes:

• Treated plants developed significantly larger heads
• Size variation across rows was reduced, improving harvest uniformity
• Overall yield improved markedly, delivering a measurable return on investment for the grower
• On average, treated plants yielded 6.16 units per plant, compared to 3.91 units for untreated
• This represents a 57.6% increase in yield per plant with Lono Calcium

The results highlight how Lono Calcium doesn’t just add nitrogen—it changes the outcome of that nitrogen by improving how it is used inside the plant.

This trial was conducted by our U.S. partner, Omex USA, who market the product in the United States under the name SizeN Ca.

Farmers make choices on what to spend on, and so do plants. A plant can’t allocate the same resource twice—it must choose. Lono encourages the crop to invest more in root development and reproductive growth, and less in leafy excess. It’s about getting better returns from smarter growth — David Marks, Levity Crop Science

Why This Matters

Artichokes are a reproductive crop—yield depends not on how big the plant gets, but on the number and size of marketable heads. Feeding nitrogen that promotes the wrong type of growth can cost yield, even when the plant looks healthy.

Using Lono Calcium allows growers to:

• Stabilise nitrogen form and minimise nitrate dominance
• Reduce excessive vegetative growth that wastes energy
• Boost head size and uniformity, improving grade and marketability
• Improve harvest index—the ratio of useful crop mass to total plant mass
• Maintain or increase yield with fewer environmental risks

This shift also supports environmental goals, as smarter nitrogen use results in lower nitrate leaching and reduced emissions, especially when used in combination with nitrogen reduction programs – Levity Research Team

How to Use Lono Calcium on Artichoke

Apply Lono Calcium either as a foliar spray or via irrigation:

• Use 2-3 L/Ha
• Begin applications at key vegetative stages and repeat during early reproductive development
• Compatible with most crop protection mixes

For best results, integrate Lono Calcium into a program that intentionally reduces nitrate-N inputs to maximise phenotypic benefit and ROI.

Conclusion

Lono Calcium is not just a nitrogen fertiliser—it’s a tool for steering crop development. By rebalancing internal signals, Lono Calcium empowers crops like artichokes to direct energy where it matters most.

Growers who adopt this approach gain improved yield, better quality, and lower environmental impact—all from smarter nitrogen.

→ Bigger heads. Smarter growth. Less waste. More yield.

References

The principle of shifting phenotype in horticultural crops using Levity’s SAN is well proven and subject to much published scientific research. Here are some examples:

• Dodgson, J., Weston, A.K., Marks, D.J. (2023). Use of Stabilised Amine Nitrogen (SAN) Reduces Required Nitrogen Input and Increases Yield of Onions (Allium cepa L.). Crops, 3(2), 148–157. https://doi.org/10.3390/crops3020015
• Weston, A.K., Dodgson, J.L.A., Marks, D.J., Wilkinson, S. (2022). Novel, high-yielding lettuce phenotype generated by urea amine nitrogen nutrition displays contrasting traits to those of nitrate- or ammonium-fertilized plants. Journal of Plant Nutrition. https://doi.org/10.1080/01904167.2022.2155537
• Wilkinson, S., Dodgson, J., Weston, A.K., Marks, D.J. (2022). Stabilized amine nitrogen (SAN) increases tomato (Solanum lycopersicum L.) yield under experimental and commercial production. Journal of Horticulture and Postharvest Research, 5(2), 105–118. https://doi.org/10.22077/jhpr.2022.4914.1259