Mosaic, BioConsortia to Collaborate on New Nitrogen-Fixing Microbial Products
BioConsortia tests plants in various soils for the development of nitrogen fixing microbial products in partnership with Mosaic to reduce chemical inputs into the environment and produce more effective fertilizers. Photo: Business Wire
The Mosaic Company and BioConsortia, Inc. have entered into a collaboration to develop and launch nitrogen-fixing microbial products for corn, wheat, and other major non-legume row crops.
Modern agriculture depends on nitrogen fertilizers as an essential tool to grow the major food crops, with over 100 million tons applied each year to help produce half of the world’s food. However, nitrogen fertilizer applications can be inefficient with losses to air, ground water, and waterways, sometimes having unintended consequences. Fortunately, there are new alternatives to providing this critical nutrient for plant growth. Through a process called ‘biological nitrogen fixation’, beneficial plant-associated microbes are able to naturally produce nitrogen in forms that are desired by plants, thereby reducing the reliance on synthetic inputs of nitrogen.
Mosaic and BioConsortia are collaborating to develop beneficial microbial products designed to reduce the amount of conventional nitrogen fertilizer application, while increasing crop yields and grower revenue. The Mosaic – BioConsortia partnership is aimed at developing yield enhancing in-furrow and seed treatment products that can be used either stand-alone or in combination with conventional chemistries and fertilizers.
Significantly reducing the use of conventional nitrogen fertilizer requires innovation not yet seen in currently available biological products. However, BioConsortia has already discovered naturally-occurring spore forming microbes capable of fixing atmospheric nitrogen and colonizing corn, wheat and other non-leguminous plants. With targeted traditional and cutting-edge strain improvement and gene editing technologies, we will develop natural and improved strain microbial products that will increase crop yields while maintaining or reducing N fertilizer inputs.
Continue reading at Business Wire.
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