Biostimulant-based Seed Priming

The aiming of the project is to develop a novel, adaptive and sustainable seed priming technology for the seed industry and crop growers. Certain chemical and biological seed treatments can elicit ‘priming memory’ at the epigenetic level leading to enhanced survival of crops under adverse environmental conditions. BioAtlantis Ltd., has recently identified naturally-derived bioactive molecules that can prime crops and act as plant oxidative stress inhibitors. This novel priming technology is proven to protect crops from adverse weather induced damages (abiotic stress) for a period of 10-14 days post application, leading to better crop yield and quality.

The objectives of the project are:

• to assess the efficacy of hydro/osmopriming and seed coating techniques in the presence of natural compounds isolated from macro and microalgae, plant extracts, small organic molecules and essential trace elements.
• To undertaken germination, vigour, emergence-tests and field trials producing phenotyping and physiological data from different species (B. napus, tomato) under control and stress conditions.
• To elucidate seed priming mechanisms by working with experts in molecular priming and epigenetics in crop plants.
• To obtain via OMICs approaches (transcriptomics and epigenomics – ChIP-seq/BS-seq) an in-depth understanding of seed priming and germination mechanisms.

The outcomes will be:

1. a greater scientific understanding of molecular mechanisms of seed priming,
2. new products to enhance agricultural sustainability in the face of climate change, and
3. novel tools for efficient priming against abiotic stress.

Active collaborations with partners at Univseristy of Galway (Ireland), DSV (Germany), ENS (France) and UZH, (Switzerland) and others to get not only specific training in molecular approaches but also intellectual input that will be valuable to the progress of the project.