Project description
Using bacteria to achieve sustainable plant growth
The growing demand for a more sustainable yet intensive plant growth sets an urgent need for cultivating methods that ensure high productivity with the minimum possible input of nutrients, energy and chemicals. The EU-funded ReproDev project will explore methods to improve plant growth and protection against pathogen stress under natural conditions. More specifically, the project aims at using microbial-derived volatile organic compounds (VOCs) as a biotechnology tool for the upgrade of plant development. ReproDev will address the scientific community, farmers and consumers and aspires to monetise its results in the form of cost-effective and eco-friendly biomolecules for plant health improvement.
Objective
There is an urgent need for intensive plant growth methods minimizing the input of nutrients, energy and chemicals while ensuring a high productivity. This project will discover novel bacterial volatile organic compounds (VOCs) to improve plant growth and protection against biotic (pathogen) stress under natural (greenhouse) conditions. In addition, the underlying mechanisms of action of VOCs will be explored, especially related to nutrient assimilation and hormone cascade pathways using advanced high throughput molecular techniques. Hence, the main objective of the project is to explore the potential of microbial-derived VOCs as a biotechnology tool to improve plant development under greenhouse conditions. The multidisciplinary nature of the project is strong, involving a combination of well-developed microbiology, biochemistry, and plant pathology and physiology. This proposal includes both the transfer of knowledge to the host institution and the training of the candidate in new advanced techniques. The innovative results of this study will attain not only high impact on the scientific community, farmers and general public, but will also be a step forward towards the commercialization of the cost effective and eco-friendly biomolecules to improve plant health.
Fields of science
- agricultural sciencesagriculture, forestry, and fisheriesagricultureagronomyplant protection
- agricultural sciencesagriculture, forestry, and fisheriesagriculturesustainable agriculture
- natural scienceschemical sciencesorganic chemistryvolatile organic compounds
- natural sciencesbiological sciencesbiochemistrybiomolecules
- natural sciencesbiological sciencesmicrobiology
Programme(s)
Funding Scheme
MSCA-IF-EF-ST - Standard EFCoordinator
3584 CS Utrecht
Netherlands