PFI-TT: Manipulating Mycorrhizal Fungi: Plant Symbionts in Organic Agriculture

“创新伙伴关系-技术转化”（PFI-TT）项目的更广泛影响/商业潜力将支持发展妇女拥有的小企业，并培训代表性不足的学生学习农业技术。该项目将确定提高有机农业作物产量、营养和次生代谢物产量的植物共生体，并将直接影响当代农业实践。在初步试验中，研究小组分离出菌根真菌；这些植物根系共生体已被证明可使作物产量提高多达30%。该项目将为有机或传统农民提供产品，以提高作物产量，无论是在生物量、营养价值还是在作物品种中可销售的植物药物化合物的浓度方面。这项技术可能会提高美国及其他地区有机和传统农民的利润率。除了商业潜力之外，该团队还将有助于科学理解植物共生体（如菌根真菌）如何影响植物次生代谢物的产生和植物营养成分。这些菌根真菌分离物可以帮助缓解世界各地长期有机农业土壤中的土壤胁迫和养分流失，改善全球农业环境。拟议的项目将评估菌根真菌对有机作物生产的影响。在有机农业中保持肥沃的土壤是具有挑战性的，因为农民改善田地土壤条件的选择很少。这一困难可能导致作物产量下降，甚至作物种植失败。菌根真菌是一种与植物共生的土壤生物，可将难以获得的土壤养分输送给植物宿主。在初步试验中，该团队已经确定了几种非常有益的菌根真菌，可以在实验室环境中培养，用于有机农业。这项研究将使用田间和温室试验来评估40多个作物品种，以确定与市售菌根产品相比，接种独特菌根分离物后表现出最强生长和营养改善的作物。菌根介导的非生物抗逆性将通过测试菌根施用与当地有机农场原位施用传统有机肥的比较来评估。该项目还将帮助农民了解特定菌根如何改变植物次级代谢物的浓度，这些代谢物因其药用、营养或其他具有重大经济影响的植物膳食价值而上市。该奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值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/commercial potential of this Partnerships for Innovation - Technology Translation (PFI-TT) project will support the development of a woman-owned small business and the training of underrepresented students learning farming technologies. This project will identify plant symbionts that improve crop productivity, nutrition, and secondary metabolite production in organic agriculture and will directly influence contemporary farming practices. In preliminary trials, the team isolated mycorrhizal fungi; These plant root symbionts have been shown to improve crop yield by as much as 30%. This project will result in products for organic or conventional farmers to increase crop yield, either in biomass, nutritional value, or the concentration of marketable phytomedicinal compounds in their crop species. The technology may improve the profit margins of organic and conventional farmers in the US and beyond. Beyond the commercial potential, this team will also contribute to scientific understanding of how plant symbionts such as mycorrhizal fungi influence plant secondary metabolite production and plant nutrient composition. These mycorrhizal fungal isolates could help ease soil stress and nutrient loss that occur in long-term organic agricultural soils across the world, improving the global agricultural environments. The proposed project will assess the effect of mycorrhizal fungi on organic crop production. Maintaining productive soils in organic agriculture is challenging, as few options are available for farmers to improve the soil conditions of their field. This difficulty can lead to lower crop productivity and even failed crop establishment. Mycorrhizal fungi are soil organisms that symbiotically associate with plants to deliver difficult-to-acquire soil nutrients to plant hosts. In preliminary trials, the team has identified several highly beneficial mycorrhizal fungi that can be cultured in a laboratory setting to be applied in organic agriculture. This research will use field and greenhouse assays to assess more than 40 crop varieties to identify crops that demonstrate the strongest growth and nutritional improvement after inoculation with unique mycorrhizal isolates compared to commercially available mycorrhizal products. Mycorrhizal mediated abiotic stress resistance will be assessed by testing how mycorrhizal applications compare to traditional organic fertilizer application in situ with a local organic farm. This project will also help farmers understand how specific mycorrhizae can alter the concentration of plant secondary metabolites that are marketed for their medicinal, nutritional, or other dietary value for plants with large economic impact.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.