Reddy, a professor of microbiology and molecular genetics, said the Popular Science article has brought attention to Bio Soil Enhancers Inc., the bacteria blend newly on the market. He said the magazine interviewed him two months ago, but he hadn’t heard from them since.

“We came to know about the article only when a bunch of people called us,” he said. “So many people, so many different specialties are calling.”

He said he got a call from a reader who carves cabinets and has no involvement with farming but just wanted to congratulate him.

Janarthanam, a visiting microbiology and molecular genetics research associate, said modern high-yield crops typically need heavy fertilization, which damages soil.

“This is something unique, because all over the world now, farmers are looking for products that can keep up the soil health,” she said. “If the soil health is maintained, plant health is maintained. If there is plant health, there is environmental health. If there’s is environmental health, there is human health.”

There are two formulations of Bio Soil Enhancers, she said, using different blends of naturally occurring bacteria and fungi. They can be used on different types of crops but haven’t been tested on different types of soils.

Reddy said they screened 300 strains of soil bacteria to find the most effective ones at converting nitrogen and phosphate into forms plants can use. About 20 were used, he said. The bacteria also stimulate plant hormone production.

“The plant comes to early flowering and maturity,” he said. “If some of our products can stimulate hormone production, then we don’t have to buy the plant hormones (anymore).”

He said it also would reduce the cost of producing food.

“If you are growing corn, the fertilizer cost is close to 50 percent of the total cost,” he said. “The farmers (using the soil bacteria) claim they have been able to reduce their fertilizer costs by about 50 percent.”

Wayne Wade, the research manager of Bio Soil Enhancers, based in Hattiesburg, Miss., said most farmers he’s talked to aren’t eliminating fertilizer, but are reducing it as they get comfortable with the blend.

“If you’re growing cotton or corn for a living, you’re at risk (changing your strategy),” Wade said.

Reddy said the company produces the blend under a license from MSU.

Lou Elwell, the company’s CEO, said of the eight solutions Popular Science proposed, the blend is one of only two on the market. He said the blend was shown to be effective in the three years of testing Mississippi required before it could be sold.

“We saw with the farmers, anywhere from a 20 to a 90 percent increase in yield,” he said. “When you get out in the real world, there’s all these variables.”