Marrone Bio Innovations Inc. and Groundwork BioAg, Ltd. announced successful seed treatment field trials of the world’s first all-biological comprehensive seed treatment. The treatments tested in corn and soybeans contained a mycorrhizal inoculant from Groundwork, as well as a bioinsecticide, a bionematicide, and a biofungicide from Marrone.
生物堆种子处理 (BSST) 由两种杀虫/杀线虫细菌、一种生物刺激剂/杀真菌细菌和菌根真菌组成。这些具有协同作用的微生物可以共同为种植者带来广泛的好处：作物产量增加、非生物胁迫条件下的恢复力、肥料需求量（尤其是磷）的减少以及对土壤害虫和植物病害的抵抗力。事实上，我们相信 BSST 是第一个能够在不使用合成杀虫剂的情况下有效提供所有这些好处的全生物种子处理剂。
Dr. Pam Marrone, Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Marrone Bio Innovations, commented, “We are excited that the first year of trials confirmed and enhanced our previous field trials with our pesticidal microbes. The addition of Groundwork’s mycorrhizae appear to enhance these microbes. We believe that this project has potential for high impact in the seed treatment market in general across a broad range of crops, and in particular can meet an unaddressed need for the rapidly growing organic grain segment and regions where pest resistance is an issue. Based on the BSST results, we are keen on expanding our trials to include biotic stresses such as sudden death syndrome in soybean, as well as Fusarium stalk rot and Pythium in corn and soybeans.”
Dr. Yossi Kofman, Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Groundwork BioAg, added, “Our Rootella product line is extremely cost-effective and has been proven to enhance yields of row crops, such as corn and soybean. Rootella is particularly effective under abiotic stress conditions, such as drought, flooding, acidity, or detrimental weather. The novel combination of Rootella with MBI’s biotic stress protection will simultaneously enhance yields and protect crops – and thus farmer investment.”
美国中西部的四个州对玉米和大豆进行了测试。在玉米中，两种生物叠加处理减少了玉米根虫数量和玉米倒伏，至少与商业化学标准一样好或更好。玉米根虫损害的减少通常与产量增加相关。 BSST 处理 1 平均增加 10.9 蒲式耳 (+5.8%)，BSST 处理 2 平均增加 12.5 蒲式耳 (+7.2%)。这些改进分别比商业标准高 3 和 7.4 蒲式耳，其中包括化学杀虫剂、杀线虫剂和杀真菌剂。
对于针对玉米线虫的试验，大多数 BSST 处理和商业化学标准减少了线虫种群。 BSST 处理 1 和 2 的产量平均分别比未处理的种子高 16 和 22 蒲式耳（7.3% 和 10.4%）。 BSST 处理 2 比标准化学种子处理（杀虫剂、杀线虫剂、杀真菌剂）增加了 4.5 蒲式耳的产量。
In soybeans, MBI’s nematicides combined with Groundwork’s mycorrhizal inoculant reduced soybean cyst nematodes as effectively as did the commercial standard treatment. Yields of BSST-treated soybeans averaged 8 bushels per acre (+15%) higher than those of untreated soybeans.
Groundwork 在美国中西部的三个州进行了大规模试验，分别在玉米、大豆和小扁豆中测试了其 Rootella 菌根接种剂。这些试验证实，在非生物胁迫条件下，包括低肥力土壤、低磷和干旱条件下，植物活力和活力得到改善。在大豆中，Rootella 增加了 11 蒲式耳/英亩 (19%)，在玉米中增加了 32 蒲式耳/英亩 (30%)，在扁豆中增加了 600 磅/英亩 (33%)。在爱荷华州进行的较小规模的合同研究试验中，使用较少磷 (P) 的 50% 种植的玉米与完全施用磷相比表现至少一样好或更好。所有 Rootella 试验均按照商业推荐的施用率进行，但 BSST 组合未针对非生物或低肥力条件进行测试。
尽管行业估计各不相同，但两家公司估计全球种子处理市场规模为 $42 亿美元，未来五年的复合年增长率为 10%。杀虫剂目前在该市场占有最大份额，作物保护类别预计将成为未来几年增长最快的部分。
Binational Industrial Research and Development Foundation (BIRD) 是一个支持和鼓励以色列和美国公司在各个技术领域开展合作的基金会，它选择了 MBI 和 Groundwork 之间的合作作为部分资助。