PlantStimulant – “Growth and Development Stimulators for Plants with Resistance-Inducing Activity as an Innovative Product for Use in the Cultivation of Agricultural Food Crops”

LIDER 13 Project (LIDER13/0211/2022)

About the project

The PlantStimulant project involves innovative research on a new technology for stimulating plant growth and development while simultaneously strengthening plants’ natural resistance. We are focused on developing an effective and safe biostimulant that can revolutionize modern agriculture by reducing the use of conventional pesticides and increasing the yields of winter wheat and potato.

Modern agriculture is facing the challenge of ensuring an adequate food supply for a constantly growing population. UN forecasts indicate that by 2050 the world population will increase to nearly 10 billion. However, this significant increase in the number of consumers is not accompanied by greater food production capacity, which is limited by progressing climate change and soil degradation. In addition, as a society, we have increasingly high expectations regarding the quality of the food we consume.

Project objectives

The main objective of the PlantStimulant project is to develop new active biostimulant substances based primarily on salicylic acid derivatives, which:

• enhance plant growth and development,

• induce plants’ natural defense mechanisms,

• reduce the use of pesticides, thereby lowering their negative impact on the environment and human health,

• improve crop quality and yield.

Because the structure of a chemical molecule can be freely modified, it is possible to design salicylates with optimal physicochemical and biological properties, tailored for effective stimulation of plant growth and induction of their natural resistance.

Scope of work

The project includes the following tasks:

• Synthesis of new plant resistance inducers – development and modification of the chemical structures of active substances to increase their effectiveness.

• Phytotoxicity and biological activity studies – testing the effects of the substances on plants and assessing their safety.

• Development of optimal formulations of active substances – testing various usable forms (e.g., concentrates, suspensions).

• Agronomic studies – evaluation of the biostimulant’s effectiveness in field plots in wheat and potato cultivation, and determination of the substances’ impact on qualitative and quantitative crop parameters.

• Analysis of substance residues in plants – determination of the safety of product application.

• Toxicological studies – determination of substance toxicity.

Importance of the project

Thanks to the use of designable salicylates, agriculture can become more sustainable and environmentally friendly. We expect the project to result in:

• increased yields while reducing production costs,

• reduced negative impact of chemical plant protection products,

• improved food quality through increased levels of health-promoting substances in crops.

What have we achieved so far?

• We have synthesized and tested more than 30 new designable salicylates, whose phytotoxicity and biological activity were examined under greenhouse conditions.

• Based on these studies, 4 compounds were selected and are currently undergoing field trials on winter wheat and potato plants.

• Our team consists of 12 people with competencies in various disciplines.

• We have published 2 scientific papers, including 1 open-access publication.

• We have presented our research results at more than 10 Polish and international conferences.

• We have participated in 3 industry trade fairs.

• We cooperate with 3 scientific institutions in Poland.

• We established a start-up, ATI Sp. z o.o., to enable commercialization of the project results.

• We are testing the substances under real-world conditions together with Biostyma Sp. z o.o. and Agriport Sp. z o.o..

About the project in the media: LIDER project

Publications

Link: MDPI
Frąszczak, B.; Matysiak, R.; Smiglak, M.; Kukawka, R.; Spychalski, M.; Kleiber, T.
Application of Salicylic Acid Derivative in Modifying the Iron Nutritional Value of Lettuce (Lactuca sativa L.)
Plants, 2024, 12(2).

Link: SCI JOURNALS
Czerwoniec, Patrycja; Kukawka, Rafał; Spychalski, Maciej; Koczura, Ryszard; Mokracka, Joanna; Smiglak, Marcin.
New biologically active ionic liquids with benzethonium cation – efficient SAR inducers and antimicrobial agents
Pest Management Science, 80(6), 3047–3055, 2024.

The studies were carried out as part of the project entitled “Growth and Development Stimulators for Plants with Resistance-Inducing Activity as an Innovative Product for Use in the Cultivation of Agricultural Food Crops”, funded by the National Centre for Research and Development (NCBR) under the LIDER 13 programme (LIDER13/0211/2022).