Description du projet
Protéger les cultures en imitant les cristaux de cire naturels
Les cristaux de cire sont de minuscules formations présentes sur les cuticules de certaines plantes, en particulier les plantes superhydrophobes comme le lotus et le brocoli. S’inspirant du règne végétal, le projet SafeWax, financé par l’UE, utilisera des formulations à base d’acides gras non toxiques d’origine biologique pour créer un revêtement protecteur doté de propriétés antiadhésives, autonettoyantes et antifongiques. Cette technologie innovante vise à réduire l’utilisation excessive et inadaptée des fongicides chimiques, qui ont des conséquences dévastatrices sur l’environnement et l’économie mondiale. Le revêtement SafeWax fera d’abord l’objet d’une démonstration sur la vigne, une plante sensible aux maladies fongiques. En sus de conférer une protection aux cultures contre les infections fongiques, ce revêtement biodégradable empêchera les dommages causés par le soleil et facilitera la collecte de l’eau provenant de la condensation de la rosée, atténuant ainsi les effets du changement climatique.
Objectif
According to the FAO, plant diseases cost the global economy around 210€ billion per year, and fungal pathogens destroy at least a third of all food crops annually. Commercial agriculture relies on chemical fungicides for crop protection owing to their easy application and low cost; however, their overuse and misuse have devastating implications for all living systems and the entire ecosystem. Thus, establishing sustainable crop protection strategies is essential for global economic development, environmental protection, and food security.
Inspired by superhydrophobic plants, such as lotus and broccoli which exhibit wax crystals on their cuticles, we propose a generic sustainable strategy for passive crop protection against fungal pathogens. Our biomimetic technology, termed SafeWax, relies on bio-derived non-toxic fatty acid-based sprayable formulations which self-assemble into a multifaceted protective coating with anti-adhesive, self-cleaning and antifungal properties. When applied on sensitive crops, which do not naturally exhibit wax crystals, SafeWax will synthetically render their foliage to passively resist pathogens. SafeWax concepts will initially be demonstrated on grapevine, as a relevant model crop of high importance to Europe’s economy, environment and culture, which is highly susceptible to fungal diseases and is the most-frequently treated crop. SafeWax will then be expanded to other sensitive commodity crops. The biodegradable SafeWax coating will not only protect crops from fungal infections but will also be tuned to provide UV radiation filtering, prevent sun damage, as well as facilitate water collection from dew condensation, mitigating inevitable effects of climate change.
SafeWax will revolutionize the global fungicides market (valued > 20 billion €), starting from the biofungicide market with a value of 3,2 billion € by 2025.
Champ scientifique
Programme(s)
- HORIZON.3.1 - The European Innovation Council (EIC) Main Programme
Régime de financement
HORIZON-EIC - HORIZON EIC GrantsCoordinateur
32000 Haifa
Israël