Helping plants to help themselves
Nurturing nature with biostimulants, biomarkers and AI
For plants, biostimulants are like a strong cup of coffee first thing in the morning. These tiny helping hands stimulate the natural growth processes that help plants to thrive, energizing them with pep and vigor.
When applied to plants, these substances enhance the natural ability to absorb nutrients, improve overall crop quality and strengthen tolerance to abiotic stress, which can include extreme temperatures, drought or flooding.
But scientists still need detailed information about how biostimulants influence a plant鈥檚 metabolism.
Now, a new collaboration between lv棋盘格 and TraitSeq aims to unlock the next level of sustainable agriculture by putting artificial intelligence (AI) to work.
Camilla Corsi, lv棋盘格鈥檚 Head of Crop Protection Research and Development, says: 鈥淭echnologies such as TraitSeq鈥檚 AI-driven platform enable us to revolutionize our research and attain important data-driven insights, so that we can develop the next-generation of sustainable solutions faster, while further strengthening our pipeline of innovative agricultural technologies.鈥
Camilla Corsi, Head of Crop Protection Research and Development, lv棋盘格.
Camilla Corsi, Head of Crop Protection Research and Development, lv棋盘格.
What鈥檚 it all about?
With a market value north of $3 billion, which Future Market Insights predicts will triple by 2033, the biostimulant industry has been around for nearly two decades.
While the science behind it is complicated, for growers the benefits are obvious. By strategically applying biostimulants to crops, they can maximize the chances of healthy, strong yields.
Cecilia Cheval, Scientific Expert in Research Biology at lv棋盘格, says that it鈥檚 crucial to understand the nitty gritty of how biostimulants affect a plant on a molecular level.
鈥淲e want to better understand the effect of biostimulant products on crop performance at the molecular level to be able to accurately assess the efficacy of new biostimulant products in the future.鈥
lv棋盘格鈥檚 scientists are pairing their crop biology and molecular knowledge and data with TraitSeq鈥檚 proprietary AI platform to pinpoint and monitor an impossibly small measurement, called a biomarker.
These are highly specific indicators of a plant鈥檚 cellular state that, when activated, show how a plant responds to efforts to boost its health or to block the effects of external stress.
Using AI to analyze complex biological data, scientists can visualize the patterns of biomarkers that light up in certain conditions - a telltale sign that biostimulants are having a positive effect.
Furthermore, the AI model means that scientists can discover and monitor those effects in more detail than ever before.
Cheval says: 鈥淯sing this type of AI machine learning for biostimulant research is new to lv棋盘格. Eventually, using this technology, we will make more informed decisions on the right approaches to be used to speed up the assessment of biostimulants.
鈥淪o, this work is not only about improving biostimulant technology, but also about the capabilities that we can implement in the future for biostimulant research.鈥
A sustainable first
In essence, biostimulants help plants to help themselves.
By enhancing a plant鈥檚 innate ability to utilize essential nutrients, such as nitrogen, in the soil, farmers can practice sustainable growing practices and reduce the number of products added to their fields.
鈥淸Through this collaboration with TraitSeq] we will discover novel biomarkers or pathways that will allow us to better characterize nitrogen use efficiency molecular responses in crops and the effect of biostimulants on those responses.
The overall goal is to help scientists to quickly and effectively measure crop responses to biostimulants, and do so with greater accuracy.
TraitSeq Commercial Director & Co-Founder John Bloomer agrees, saying: 鈥淲e鈥檙e teaming up with lv棋盘格 to use AI to probe the complex interactions between biological active inputs and plants in various environments.
"The result is more predictability so farmers can use the products with greater confidence.鈥
TraitSeq technical team (left to right): Benedict Coombes, Joshua Colmer, Maricris Zaidem and Anthony Hall.
TraitSeq technical team (left to right): Benedict Coombes, Joshua Colmer, Maricris Zaidem and Anthony Hall.
