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

这个小型企业创新研究（SBIR）项目的更广泛影响/商业潜力是提供一类新的生物化学物质（基于植物共生真菌的化学交流剂），这些化学物质可以在整个季节内提高植物生产力，包括促进根系生长，抵抗包括干旱在内的各种胁迫，并提高植物产量。该系统将作为种子处理或增强型肥料进行开发。这些新产品将主要通过农业分销商和种子公司通过已经开发好的配送系统出售给农民。它们有望促进植物根系发育、作物产量和对干旱和其他不利条件的耐受性/抗性。这些产品同样可以被经验丰富的大型农民和种子公司使用，包括那些使用先进植物遗传性状的农民和种子公司，但也适用于较小的种植者，因为用户的投入成本将低于特别是应对不利环境压力的竞争性技术。这些工具和进步将有助于克服气候变化的不利影响，并提供技术以最大限度地利用稀缺的水资源。该SBIR第一期项目建议制定活性化学品，以提供用户友好的产品，以便在适当的农业系统中交付，包括种子处理和增强型肥料，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，并将允许在有和没有新产品的情况下测量传统和先进抗旱玉米杂交品种的用水效率，并将提供一种方法来确定活性化学物质改善植物性能的机制。第三个目标是必不可少的，因为所施用的化学物质只在种子发芽期间存在，但在整个季节都能提高植物的性能。这些配方是基于一种新的系统，可以隔离挥发性活性化学物质，但只有在种子发芽时才会释放它们。将测量的植物性能特征包括整个季节根系发育的增强，水分限制条件下产量参数的增强，以及水分利用效率的测量。

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.