Agricultural colorants are dyes and pigments used for tracking, product coloring, seed coating, ice-melt and deicing, dried flowers, landscaping, fertilizers, and others. These colorants help enhance cosmetic appeal, distinction, or identification amongst different product varieties, uniformity of products, and monitoring consistency. Agricultural colorants are widely used to colour the herbicides, fungicides, and pesticides for several reasons. These products are colored for easy identification, by combining dry powder and chromatic pigment dispersions. Colorants are used for crop protection and seed treatment to enhance farming production.
Agricultural colorants have been around for centuries and have long provided the necessary protection and enhancement to various agricultural products. There are types of them available on the market. They are used mainly in the production of feedstuffs, fertilizers, seed coatings, oils, fuels and other chemical solutions. There are two categories of these colorants: synthetic and organic. Here are some of their major advantages and applications. Organic colorants are very popular and widely used in various applications. These include adhesives, insecticides, dyes and preservatives. The most commonly used ones are pyrethrum and phenol.
Organic ones come in various strengths and are made from various synthetic materials. They are, however, most effective in the long run if used judiciously and according to the required standards. Synthetic colorants are mostly used for applications that require quick drying times. Their biggest advantage is that they are transparent, so that the actual color can be seen. However, they have some limitations such as the slowest drying time. Other than this, they are more expensive. There are some organic types that are harmful to the environment. Organic types are more useful in applications where the product or material is to be applied on a large scale. They are also used as protection for new growth of plants.
While there are several advantages of using these types of dyes and pigments, they have certain disadvantages as well. They may affect the taste of food and they are flammable. They may react with some plastics and they emit gases when heated. During manufacturing, some types may discolor or turn colors when exposed to high temperatures. These pigments are made from plant materials such as sugar cane, starch, alfalfa, cottonseed, soybean, and wool. There are some mixtures that are made from animal products such as meat, liver, hooves, bones, and hooves dust. However, the most commonly used ones are the plant-based colorants. They are used worldwide for various agricultural applications.
Agricultural colorants are widely used in the agriculture industry to enhance the color and appearance of the final product or material they have been used on. These colorants are added in fertilizers and manures to differentiate and avoid chances of error for its application. All fertilizers look the same without colors and hence the chances for use of incorrect fertilizers are higher. Apart from this, agricultural colorants differentiate between low and high quality fertilizers. However, the selection of colorant depends on the colour category, colour strength, stability, and its compatibility with other additives.
