SBIR Phase I: A NOVEL BIORATIONAL, VERSATILE PRODUCT TO ENHANCE CROP YIELDS AND RESISTANCE TO STRESSES

这个小企业创新研究（SBIR）项目的更广泛的影响/商业潜力是提供一类新的生物合理的化学品（基于植物共生真菌的化学通讯剂），提供植物生产力的季节性改善，包括增强根系生长，对包括干旱在内的各种压力的抵抗力，以及植物产量的增加。该系统将被开发用于种子处理或作为增强肥料。新产品将通过已经开发的交付系统主要通过农业分销商和种子公司销售给农民。预计它们将增加植物根系发育、作物产量和对干旱和其他不利条件的耐受性/抵抗力。这些产品同样适用于大型和成熟的农民和种子公司，包括那些使用先进植物遗传特性的公司，但也适用于较小的种植者，因为用户的投入成本低于竞争性技术，特别是应对不利的环境压力。这些工具和进展将有助于克服气候变化的不利影响，并提供最大限度地利用稀缺水资源的技术。SBIR第一阶段项目建议配制活性化学品，为合适的农业系统提供用户友好的产品，包括种子处理和强化肥料，并评估原型产品在温室，中试规模和田间试验系统中的优势。田间试验将在干旱胁迫条件下进行，并将允许在存在和不存在新产品的情况下测量常规和先进耐旱玉米杂交种的水分利用效率，并将提供一种方法来确定活性化学品改善植物性能的机制。这第三个目标是必不可少的，因为所施用的化学品仅在种子萌发期间存在，但在整个季节中增强植物的表现。该配方基于新的系统，该系统将隔离挥发性活性化学物质，但仅在种子发芽时释放它们。将测量的植物性能特征包括整个季节增强的根系发育，在水分限制条件下增强的产量参数，并测量水分利用效率。

The broader impact/commercial potential of this Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) project is to provide a new class of biorational chemicals (based on chemical communicants from plant symbiotic fungi) that provide season-long improvements in plant productivity including enhanced root growth, resistance to a variety of stresses including drought, and increases in plant yield. This system will be developed for delivery as a seed treatment or as an augmented fertilizer. The novel products will be sold to famers through already-developed delivery systems primarily through agricultural distributors and seed companies. They are expected to increase plant root development, crop yields and tolerance/resistance to drought and other adverse conditions. The products can be used equally well by large and sophisticated farmers and seed companies, including those using advanced plant genetic traits, but is also adaptable to smaller growers since the input costs to users will be less than competitive technologies for especially coping with adverse environmental stresses. These tools and advances will assist is overcoming the adverse effects of climate change and provide technologies to maximize scarce water resources.This SBIR Phase I project proposes to formulate the active chemicals to provide user-friendly products for delivery in suitable agricultural systems including seed treatments and augmented fertilizers, and to evaluate prototype products on their advantages in the greenhouse, pilot scale and field trial systems. The field trials will be conducted under conditions of drought stress and will permit measurement of water use efficiency of conventional and advanced drought tolerant corn hybrids in the presence and absence of the new products, and will provide a means to determine the mechanism by which the active chemicals provide improvements in plant performance. This third goal is essential since the chemicals as applied are present only during seed germination, but enhance plant performance throughout the season. The formulations are based on novel systems that will sequester volatile active chemicals but release them only when seeds are germinating. The plant performance characteristics that will be measured include enhanced root development throughout the season, enhanced yield parameters under water limiting conditions, and measure water use efficiency.