Marelli Project
A Bioinspired Approach to Engineer the Seed Microenvironment, Augustine Zvinavashe (2021)
Legumes germinated and sprouted from coated seeds at the UM6P Experimental Farm in Ben Guerir, Morocco.
ABSTRACT
Bioinspired by the tardigrade and bombyx mori, we engineer the seed microenvironment to encapsulate, preserve and deliver Rhizobium tropici. Scientific discoveries in agriculture and sustainability are at the crossroads of material science, biochemistry, agriculture and biology. They underpin the innovative technological solutions that will impact water, energy and food security (WEFS). These new technologies can then be implemented to address major societal problems that are linked to climate change, soil degradation and increasing population. In particular, our objective is to augment agricultural outputs (i.e. crop yield and production) while decreasing inputs (e.g. water, energy, fertilizers, land, pesticides) by developing new technology to deploy plant-growth-promoting-bacteria (PGPBs) in the soil to alleviate abiotic plant stressors such as soil salinity and drought. Using PGPBs to reduce and complement the use of synthetic fertilizer, our design approach engineers the seed microenvironment by coating the seeds with PGPBs laden biopolymers. PGPBs are well known to enhance crop production and protect plants from biotic and abiotic stresses, while decreasing the need for water and fertilizers. However, the bacteria’s delicate nature has hindered their use in current agricultural practices, due to low survivability. We use a silk and trehalose mixture that is able to encapsulate, protect, preserve and deliver Rhizobium tropici to Phaseolus Vulgaris, upon sowing. The coated Phaseolus Vulgaris seeds are shown to be able to significantly alleviate soil salinity and water stresses in Moroccan soil when compared with uncoated (control) Phaseolus Vulgaris seeds.