I-Corps: Application of Rhizobium bacteria with light-dependent nodulation efficiency

这个i-Corps项目的更广泛的商业潜力是显著提高豆类农业和其他作物的肥力和作物产量。在作物施肥中应用光活化接种剂将导致豆类产量增加，并可能使收获豆类后在同一田地种植的其他作物受益，因为留在田里的豆类作物残留物可能会给这些额外的作物施肥。这项新技术的潜在客户是中西部各州的大豆种植者和美国西南部的紫花苜蓿种植者。使用这项技术的预期产量提高将潜在地导致这些重要作物的更高利润率。i-Corps项目开发了一种创新的方法来处理目前用于豆类施肥的细菌接种。豆类作物被喷洒了生活在植物根部的细菌，为植物提供了从空气氮中产生的肥料化合物。涉及的核心技术是基于最近的一项发现，即这些细菌需要光照才能激活它们穿透根部的能力。在田里喷洒光激活的接种剂构成了一种新的、最先进的方法，可以显著提高肥料和作物产量，而不是目前的产量。

The broader/commercial potential of this I-Corps project is to significantly improve fertilization and crop yields in legume agriculture and other crops. Application of light-activated inoculates for crop fertilization will result in an increased legume production and will potentially benefit other crops that are grown in the same fields after harvesting the legumes, as legume crop remnants left in the fields may fertilize those additional crops. The potential customers for this novel technology are the soybean farmers of the Midwestern states and the alfalfa growers in the southwestern USA. The expected yield enhancements using this technique will potentially result in higher profit margins in these important crops.The I-Corps project develops an innovative way to process bacterial inoculates currently used to fertilize legumes. Legume crops are sprayed with bacteria that live inside the plant roots providing the plant with fertilizing compounds that they produce from air nitrogen. The core technology involved is based on a recent discovery that illumination of these bacteria is required to activate their capacity to penetrate the roots. Spraying the fields with light-activated inoculates constitutes a new, state of the art methodology that could significantly improve fertilization and crop yields over current yields.