Project: Mycological Approach for Development of Sustainable Substrate to Produce Healthier Food Crops
THE PROBLEM_x000D_The use of high fertiliser doses and intensive agriculture is creating serious environmental problems, being one of them the LOSS OF SOIL QUALITY FOR AGRICULTURAL USE. The decline in soil fertility and the increase of soil pollution are major threats to the viability and sustainability of agricultural production (EC COM 2001/264). _x000D__x000D_As a response of the lack of good fertile and non-polluted soils, SUBSTRATES are increasingly required in agriculture, especially for propagating plant stocks (plant nurseries) or for whole vegetation cycle cultivation (soilless cultivation). Most of the substrates used today are PEAT-BASED, contributing to another ecological problem, as peat lands are complex ecosystems with huge ecologic value that need to be preserved. From the 1990s, there have been continuous attempts to find alternative substrates based on non-peat components. The necessary shift from high-chemical to low-chemical input agriculture production, due to environmental reasons and regulatory pressures, can bring yield loss, which farmers cannot afford. There is a clear need of developing effective, non-chemical products able to act as biopesticides, while enhancing nutrient availability in soil or nutrient uptake by the plant. _x000D__x000D_THE INNOVATIVE SOLUTION_x000D_The role of biota in the soil and cultivation substrates has been neglected in the past due to “the chemical revolution”. With increasing knowledge on their beneficial action, soil biota such as bacteria and fungi are becoming widely used, not only in organic agriculture but also in conventional/intensive exploitations, as they create a “living cultivation substrate” suitable for efficient crop production, while minimising pollution by excessive chemical input and reducing pathogens risks. Beneficial soil microbes, are natural and integral part of healthy soil ecosystems and contribute to efficient utilisation of nutrients and water. They also provide better protection of plants in front of soil borne pathogens. _x000D__x000D_This project will use a combination of fungi to create a biosubstrate and an organic soil amendment with enhanced properties compared to the existing ones. Two families of fungi will be used together:_x000D_- TRICHODERMA HARZIANUM (Th): a beneficial fungus with antagonistic action against many soil borne pathogens and biofertiliser activity. The Spanish company Microgaia Biotech has already isolated and identified a specific strain of Th (isolate code “Th78”) and proved successfully its inoculation into a compost, creating a biosubstrate in which the Th fungi reCO in form of spores for more than 6 months (Pascual et al, 2010)._x000D_- ARBUSCULAR MYCORRHIZAL FUNGI (AMF): microscopic fungi that live attached to the plant root, in symbiosis with the plant, vastly extending their root system and thus their nutrient and water absorption capacity. AMF support the plant in their growth and are normally supplied in form of soil amendment. The Czech company Symbiom is renowned as one of the largest European manufacturers of mycorrhizal products. It conducts regular research for finding optimal AMF combinations._x000D__x000D_EXPECTED RESULTS AND MARKETS ADDRESSED_x000D__x000D_Combining the experience of Microgaia in Th and Symbiom in AMF, this 3-year project has the objective of designing new fungal-based bioproducts, allowing the end-users to dramatically reduce the input of agrochemicals, as well as improving plant nutrition and crop yield._x000D_RESULT 1 – MYCROPSUBSTRATE. New substrate biotised with both Th and AMF, to be used as sustainable cultivating media. The substrate matrix will be compost made from grapevine pruning waste, obtained through a modified procedure based in an already patented production process created by Microgaia (Spanish patent 200901209). During this composting process, the matrix will be dually inoculated with the selected consortium of Th78 and AMF. Different proportions of bioadditive amendments will be also added, such as chitin, alginates and others, to ensure exceptional survival time for both fungi. The fungal concentration and the final fine tuning of the inoculated compost will offer 3 lines of substrate for different applications, COly in plant nurseries and soilless agriculture. The new organic substrate will have exceptional properties as biopesticide, biostimulator and biofertilizer, due to the potential synergism between Th78 and AMF._x000D_RESULT 2 – Th-AMF ENRICHED TREATMENT PRODUCTS. New soil organic amendments, to be used as complement for natural soils or inert substrates to improve their quality. The market of soil organic amendments is already partially covered by mycorrhizal products, which will be improved with the incorporation of Th in their formulations._x000D_RESULT 3 – PRODUCTION PROCESS. Once the products will be formulated and the compost production process will be optimised for Th-AMF dually inoculation, the know-how will be transcribed in the form of a technology transfer package to be sold to interested 3rd parties in key countries.
| Acronym | MyCropSubstrate (Reference Number: 6203) |
| Duration | 01/05/2011 - 30/04/2014 |
| Project Topic | Development of innovative, sustainable compost-based substrate amended with beneficial fungi (mycorrhizal fungi and a compatible Trichoderma strain) with strong biopesticide effect against soil pathogens and providing better nutrient use for the plant to produce healthier food crops. |
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Project Results (after finalisation) |
The CO result achieved was in the obtaining of new fungal-based bio-products, allowing the end users to reduce the inputs of agrochemicals (chemical fertilizers and pesticides) in the plant production. In particular three CO outputs were obtained:_x000D_1) Microbial product based on combination of arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) and specific strain of Trichoderma harzianum (T78). Registered as a supplementary plant substance at Central Institute for Supervising and Testing in Agriculture of the Czech Republic. _x000D_2) Biotized substrate made from grapevine pruning waste amended with AMF and T. harzianum to be used as a sustainable cultivating media._x000D_3) Production protocol for the biotized compost. _x000D_The biotized compost is now being tested under large commercial scale within the CIP-EIP-Eco-Innovation-2012 project "ALMOST". The inoculated compost is being offered to different markets, COly to plant nurseries and as a biopesticide/biofertilizer organic amendment. |
| Network | Eurostars |
| Call | Eurostars Cut-Off 5 |
Project partner
| Number | Name | Role | Country |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2 | Microgaia Biotech S.L. | Coordinator | Spain |
| 2 | Symbiom, s.r.o. | Partner | Czech Republic |