Investigations of a microbial community improving plant access to nutrients and overall growth

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We have known that some microbes associate with plant roots and improve plant growth for over a century.Over the last decade we have come to appreciate that there is a regulated population of microbes associatedwith the roots of all crop plants - the phytomicrobiome. The phytomicrobiome is now being sampled as cropmanagement input. The century-old soybean inoculant industry is the paradigm for this: a very inexpensiveproduct is applied on large land areas and reduces the application of nitrogen fertilizer, reducing greenhousegas emissions, waterway eutrophication and groundwater contamination. There is a growing interest in the useof "biologicals" as a way to reduce agriculture's environmental footprint. EVL has developed a set ofplant-associated bacteria that improves the growth of crop plants and can be applied with fertilizers. Wepropose to improve understanding of the mode of action for these strains. This will consist of determiningproduction, by these microbes, of plant hormones or plant hormone analogues, proteins able to stimulate plantgrowth and the ability of these materials in the broth in which the microbes were produced (after the cells wereremoved) to enhance plant growth. The latter could lead to an eventual cell free product EVL has made someeffort and understanding the mechanism of action of these microbes consortium however it does not have theresearch expertise or facilities to allow the research proposed; a relationship with the Smith lab at McGill willovercome this. This work will improve the sustainability and economics of Canadian agricultural and giveCanada further leadership in the agricultural application of biologicals. The work will provide a deeperunderstanding of mechanisms by which the microbe strains increase plant growth, leading to a broadercollaboration between EVL Inc and McGill University; one that will allow further utilization of biologicals andthe development of new products in this area.