Commercial plant-probiotic microorganisms for sustainable organic tomato production systems

Selected plant-probiotic microorganisms, produced by the company CCS Aosta at a commercial scale, are being tested in the Italian Padana plain in open field conditions for their ability to provide adequate crop nutrition and to ensure durable soil fertility for organic tomato production. In this three-years-long project the QLIF-WP333 research team will investigate the potential of soil probiotics management as a tool to improve the quality of tomato fruits and the sustainability of organic tomato production systems

efficacy of commercial symbiotic bio fertilizer consortium for mitigating the olive quick decline syndrome oqds

The inoculation of soil with a bio-fertilizer (BF), with arbuscular mycorrhiza fungi, characterizes a Symbiotic (S) agriculture mode, aimed at promoting the yield and health of crops through modifications in the rhizosphere as well as in the plant phenotype. The main objective of this study was to reduce the incidence of Olive Quick Decline Syndrome (OQDS, involving Xylella fastidiosasubsp.pauca) that afflicts the olive groves in Apulia (Italy). Non-inoculated control (C) plants were compared with Symbiotic (S) plants inoculated with 20 kg ha-1 of Micosat F ®, through a 15 cm deep scarification, in the groves of seven farms covering an area of 27 ha. In addition to a visual observation of 484 plants, to obtain a gradation of the disease severity, some objective rapid type methods were utilized to survey the plants and soil , namely leaf pH, NIR tomoscopy of the leaves, hay-litter-bag probes coupled with NIR spectroscopy and the prediction of soil induced respiration. The fingerprinting of the S and C types of leaves and litter-bags was ascertained by means of the use of a random forest algorithm in the classification matrices. The results on the symptoms appeared variable: they were significantly mitigated in two groves out of six, but they were aggravated in one. All the rapid measurements became essentials in a "holistic" model which was able to explain over 95% of the average mitigation / null / aggravation response to BF inoculation. The holistic model gathers differential and compositional analyses of the leaf (pH, crude protein, water) and of the soil (respiration), but depends mainly on the fingerprinting of the C and S leaves and litter-bags. Two keys were identified for a successful inoculation: a high degree of variability of the soil conditions permitting hospitality for the BF with enhancement of the microbial activity in the S soil (lowering the fingerprint of the control litter-bags) and homogeneity of the leaves (with increases in the fingerprint of the S leaves treated with BF). In short, the inoculation of diseased plants with one BF consortium is far from being the ultimate remedy to mitigate OQDS in all situations. Further studies are needed, at a field level, to clarify the soil hosting capacity and to define the mycorrhizal and / or endophytic * plant * pathogen interactions, even using rapid methods

nirs footprint of bio fertilizers from hay litter bags

The biofertilization of cropsusing microbial biota in the soil (MBS) is a modern practice that is used to sustain fertility. MBS agents can promote the yield and health of crops, by luxuriating in the shoot as well as in the root systems. Farmers devoted to systematic MBS fertilization are creating a "Symbiotic" (S) form of agriculture, which offers a greater advantage of resilience than Conventional (C) or organic farming. Since MBS is involved in organic matter degradation, hay-litter-bag probes can be used to reflect a global functionality of the active soil, in the short-medium term. It is here shown that the NIRS hay-litter-bag technique, intended not as mass decay but as a quality evolution of the hay probes, can be modelled as a valid footprint of S vs. C soils. A patented MBS was used in eight experiments in which litter-bags from an S treated thesis were compared with equivalent litter-bags from a non-inoculated C thesis. The chemical signature of the S vs. C in the litter-bag composition was a percentage decrease of sugars and fibres. A smart NIRS device was used to discriminate the origin of the S vs. C litter-bags and a sensitivity of 71% (P<0.0001) was obtained. External validations on 37 S farms showed that three NIRS models discriminated the true positive S spectra, with a sensitivity of 90% as single and 98% as compound probabilities The NIRS radiation of the hay-litter-bags confirmed the results of the S vs. C agriculture soil footprint. Moreover, the SCIO-NIR devices also made it possible to connect the S farms in a smart network

Spectroscopic Kernel Quality From A Symbiotic Corn Production

The management of the inoculation of a plant's roots, by means of biofertilizers (BF) containing arbuscular mycorrhizal (AM) fungi, is aimed at inducing modifications of the quality of the seeds. It is here shown that a seed-soil treatment can be elicited in the fingerprints of a symbiotic treatment using Near Infra Red (NIR)-SCiO NIR-SCiO spectra collections of single kernels: overall, a sensitivity of 73% and a specificity of 73% have been achieved, thus suggesting that it may be possible to assign the symbiotic origin of corn from just twenty kernels, provided that the dataset is adequately representative of the cultivar and AM. A global correlation study has shown a positive general trend (R2 0.45) of quality vs. quantity, in the sense that an increase in yield corresponded to an increase in the spectral differences between the symbiotic spectra and the control ones, but the inverse was also true, as a result of the parasitic behaviour of the BF treatments. The efficacy of the symbiosis can be back predicted from the NIR spectra; in fact, around 90% of the positive yield outcome results were discriminated from the negative ones. A reduction in the foliar pH (R2 0.37) and an increase in the foliar protein (R2 0.43) were observed as immediate phenotypic signs of a productive symbiosis. The commercial raw composition of the kernels appeared to only be affected slightly by the BF treatments; thus, till now uncharted secondary compounds of the maize kernels are involved, as supported by animal performances

Expression and characterization of two new alkane-inducible cytochrome P450s from Trichoderma harzianum

Abstract The inducibility CYPs by various carbon sources, including some n-alkanes and fatty acids, has been studied in Trichoderma harzianum. It was observed that n-dodecane and a mixture of fatty acids were good inducers of total CYP content and &#969;-hydroxylase of lauric acid, a marker for &#969;-hydroxylation of n-alkanes. By RACE it was isolated a cDNA containing an open reading frame of 1520 bp which encoded a CYP52 protein of 520 amino acids. Further, another n-alkane inducible CYP was identified in a library of T. harzianum by LC-MS/Ms analysis of a microsomal protein band induced by n-dodecane exposure. Thus, the filamentous fungus T. harzianum is expected to have a CYP dependent conversion of alkanes to fatty acids and their incorporation into cellular lipids

Plant-probiotic microorganisms for a sustainable buffer of input reduction in organic and low-input tomato production systems

A consortium of plant-probiotic microorganisms is under investigation in open field conditions, at the ICEA-certified Organic Farm “La Carioncella”, for its ability to ensure durable soil fertility while buffering nutritional inputs reduction. The primary objective of our QLIF-WP333 three-years-long project is to produce scientific data to help farmers in managing soil probiotics, as a way to reduce inputs, production costs, while keeping quality and sustainability of organic and low-input tomato production systems

Identification of Beneficial Microbial Consortia and Bioactive Compounds with Potential as Plant Biostimulants for a Sustainable Agriculture

Tabacchioni S, Passato S, Ambrosino P, et al. Identification of Beneficial Microbial Consortia and Bioactive Compounds with Potential as Plant Biostimulants for a Sustainable Agriculture. Microorganisms. 2021;9(2): 426.A growing body of evidence demonstrates the potential of various microbes to enhance plant productivity in cropping systems although their successful field application may be impaired by several biotic and abiotic constraints. In the present work, we aimed at developing multifunctional synthetic microbial consortia to be used in combination with suitable bioactive compounds for improving crop yield and quality. Plant growth-promoting microorganisms (PGPMs) with different functional attributes were identified by a bottom-up approach. A comprehensive literature survey on PGPMs associated with maize, wheat, potato and tomato, and on commercial formulations, was conducted by examining peer-reviewed scientific publications and results from relevant European projects. Metagenome fragment recruitments on genomes of potential PGPMs represented in databases were also performed to help identify plant growth-promoting (PGP) strains. Following evidence of their ability to coexist, isolated PGPMs were synthetically assembled into three different microbial consortia. Additionally, the effects of bioactive compounds on the growth of individually PGPMs were tested in starvation conditions. The different combination products based on microbial and non-microbial biostimulants (BS) appear worth considering for greenhouse and open field trials to select those potentially adoptable in sustainable agriculture

Effects of a Diet Based on Foods from Symbiotic Agriculture on the Gut Microbiota of Subjects at Risk for Metabolic Syndrome

Diet is a major driver of gut microbiota variation and plays a role in metabolic disorders, including metabolic syndrome (MS). Mycorrhized foods from symbiotic agriculture (SA) exhibit improved nutritional properties, but potential benefits have never been investigated in humans. We conducted a pilot interventional study on 60 adults with ≥ 1 risk factors for MS, of whom 33 consumed SA-derived fresh foods and 27 received probiotics over 30 days, with a 15-day follow-up. Stool, urine and blood were collected over time to explore changes in gut microbiota, metabolome, and biochemical, inflammatory and immunologic parameters; previous dietary habits were investigated through a validated food-frequency questionnaire. The baseline microbiota showed alterations typical of metabolic disorders, mainly an increase in Coriobacteriaceae and a decrease in health-associated taxa, which were partly reversed after the SA-based diet. Improvements were observed in metabolome, MS presence (two out of six subjects no longer had MS) or components. Changes were more pronounced with less healthy baseline diets. Probiotics had a marginal, not entirely favorable, effect, although one out of three subjects no longer suffered from MS. These findings suggest that improved dietary patterns can modulate the host microbiota and metabolome, counteracting the risk of developing MS