SBIR Phase I: Engineering Seed Microenvironment

小型企业创新研究(SBIR)第一阶段项目的更广泛影响是在建立气候适应能力和促进农业食品生产系统的低碳排放方面。该公司寻求开发一种种衣剂技术，可以延长植物生长促进菌(PGPB)的保质期，也被称为生物肥料。这种包衣种子提高了作物产量和产量，减少了农业投入(如水、能源、化肥、土地使用和杀虫剂)。独特的包衣可以缓解土壤盐分和干旱等非生物植物压力，使种子更具气候适应性。该项目将提供工具，使以微生物为基础的农业公司更容易建立和部署更广泛的技术。目前的种衣剂和微生物保鲜技术一般都是从不可再生的石化产品中开发出来的。这些种衣剂在环境中极难降解，最终形成污染水和土地系统的微塑料。由于这些问题，政策制定者禁止在食品和农业行业使用石油种衣剂。拟议的种子包衣技术可能会填补这一空白，因为它使用的是可生物降解的、自然衍生的无毒材料。气候变化、土壤退化和土壤盐碱化是导致世界各地重大社会问题的新问题。这些社会问题包括对水、能源和粮食安全(WEFS)的影响。农业方面的科学发现可能会为缓解这些相关社会问题的创新技术解决方案提供信息。该项目将设计种子微环境，以使用生物聚合物封装、保存和传递PGPB。拟议的工作可能会提高微生物和养分输送的精确度，并通过定向输送和用生物肥料替代来降低合成肥料对环境的影响。技术研究和开发的重点将是开发生物聚合物种衣剂，并测试其在有水和无水种子状态下的功效。这些实验还将评估种子对真菌和线虫等非生物胁迫的保护能力。该项目旨在实验室条件下进行初步实验，随后预计将进行大规模实地研究。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力优势和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

The broader impact of this Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase I project is in building climate resilience and promoting lower carbon emissions in the agricultural food production system. The company seeks to develop a seed coating technology that can extend the shelf life of plant growth promoting bacteria (PGPB), also known as biofertilizers. Such coated seeds boost crop yields and production, and reduce agricultural inputs (e.g. water, energy, fertilizers, land use, and pesticides). The unique coating could alleviate abiotic plant stressors such as soil salinity and drought, making the seeds more climate resilient. The project will provide tools that will make it easier for microbe-based agriculture companies to build and deploy their technologies more broadly. Current seed coating and microbe preservation technologies are generally developed from the non-renewable petrochemicals. These seed coatings are extremely hard to degrade in the environment, ultimately forming microplastics that pollute the water and land systems. Because of these problems, policy makers are banning petroleum-based seed coating usage in the Food and Agriculture industries. The proposed seed coating technology may fill in this gap as it uses biodegradable, naturally-derived, and non-toxic materials. Climate change, soil degradation, and soil salinization are emerging issues that have led to major societal problems around the world. These societal problems include impacts on water, energy, and food security (WEFS). Scientific discoveries in agriculture may inform innovative technological solutions that mitigate these pertinent societal issues. This project will engineer the seed microenvironment to encapsulate, preserve and deliver PGPB using biopolymers. The proposed work may increase precision in microbe and nutrient delivery, and lower the environmental impact of synthetic fertilizers through targeted delivery and substitution with biological fertilizers. The technical research and development will be focused on the development of biopolymer seed coatings and tests of their efficacy in hydrated and anhydrous seed states. The experiments will also assess the protective capabilities of seeds against abiotic stressors such as fungi and nematodes. The project aims to carry out initial experiments under laboratory conditions and subsequently expects to conduct large scale field studies.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.