Novel Eco-Friendly Bacterial Solutions for Phytophthora capsici in Organic Agriculture (NEBSO)

The challenge to meet the increasing demands for food and fibre by a rapidly growing global population requires innovative solutions to improve productivity and protect crop losses while maintaining environmental health and conserving limited natural resources. In practical terms, 20% of the costs of producing a crop is from chemical fertilizers and, aside from soil fertility, diseases constitute a significant limiting factor in crop production and must be controlled.Of one billion pounds of pesticides used each year, about 10% are fungicides. Chemical pesticides are damaging to the environment, waterways, and are toxic to wildlife, users, and consumers, so reducing their use is to be welcomed where possible. Based on population growth and the need to increase food production, it is unlikely that we can completely shift from chemical fertilizers and fungicides to organic agents. It is estimated that without synthetic fertilizers, the world could only feed 2-4 billion people while currently, there are more than 8 billion.There is a need to increase the availability of alternative products inorganic production systems which use cultural practices, organic fertilizers to boost plant growth, manage diseases and reduce usage of chemical pesticides.One way this can be done is to exploit certain naturally abundant microorganisms (bacteria and fungi) which colonize plants internally without causing harm to their host plants, often providing protection by 'fighting' against diverse soil-borne diseases while also improving the health of plants. This project focuses on bacteria which produce a range of beneficial biochemical substances promoting plant growth, fixing atmospheric nitrogen, increasing mineral nutrient uptake, and protect plants against plant diseases. These bacteria can be mass-produced, stabilised for shelf-life and developed into commercial products ('biofungicides') which enhance plant growth and fight against diverse diseases.Our bacteria, belonging to species known to be harmless for animals and humans, and the environment in general, have been shown to boost plant growth, much as a fertiliser does, and to control what is probably the most serious plant pathogen - Phytophthora - which is the focus of our present project. However, it should be noted that our bacteria also show activity against other important plant diseases including diverse root rots and foliage diseases.We shall develop prototype bacterial (commercial-type) formulations and will validate their efficacy to boost plant growth and control disease as seed treatmentsand by incorporating them into soil and composts, with a view to commmercialising the selected strains.The demand for such products is there and shown ininterviews of over 100 vegetable farmers incustomer discovery, which showed a need for disease management tools for organic and chemical-free farmers - and indeed those who just wish to reduce harmful chemical pesticide usage.