BioHortiTech

Improved bio-inocula and living mulching technologies for integrated management of horticultural crops.

Nowadays, the use of bioinocula in commercial agriculture sector is hindered by several factors, among them insufficient knowledge of microbial ecology and formulation efficiency, as well as less farmers awareness of application technology and requirements under different cropping systems.

The project BioHortiTech has the objective to improve the knowledge on ecological dynamics of bioinocula for plant protection and nutrition, in both integrated and organic farming systems with living mulching under contrasting environmental and climatic conditions.

Within the project, which counts with the participation of the Chemical Technology Unit of Eurecat, different studies will be performed to elucidate how bioinocula interact with pathogenic, symbiotic, and other microbes and to understand how they are influenced by environmental and agronomical conditions. Such knowledge is essential for maximizing benefits associated with using beneficial microbes in commercial agriculture and horticulture as well as when integrating their use with other agronomical practices.

To improve formulation efficiency, BioHortiTech promotes an innovative approach based on biodegradable polymers or hybrid capsule shells derived from underutilized biomasses will be used to formulate microencapsulation of bioinocula and bioeffectors (substances promoting plant growth or resilience to biotic or abiotic stresses) contributing to plant protection or nutrition.

The consortium of the BioHortiTech project, is led by the National Institute of Horticultural Research (INHORT) from Poland and counts with the participation of the Horticultural Research at East Malling (NIAB-EMR) from the United Kingdom, the Max Planck Institute for Polymer Research from Germany, the Biological Agriculture Research Group from France and the Carinsa Group (Spain).

The project is funded by the ERA-NET Cofund activity SusCrop (Sustainable Crop Production), under the Joint Programming Initiative on Agriculture, Food Security and Climate Change (FACCE-JPI).