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VIDEO: Potato Seeds Made Without Soil With Little Help From Peru
Scientists say that in aeroponics technique, potato seeds are grown in mist environment. Potato seeds grown through this technology are free from soil-borne diseases. Potato Technology Centre has established three units which have the capacity to grow 10 lakh minitubers
Parveen Arora
Potato Technology Centre, (PTC) Shamgarh, in the district in collaboration with Central Potato Research Institute (CPRI) in Shimla and International Potato Centre (CIP), Peru, has started producing potato seeds in the air with the help of aeroponic technique.
Scientists show a potato breed at Potato Technology Centre at Shamgarh village in Karnal district. Sayeed Ahmed
In this technique, there is no need for soil and other growing media like coco-peat for production. The scientists say that in aeroponics technique, potato seeds are grown in mist environment. They claim potato seeds grown through this technology are free from soil-borne diseases.
“We have started the process of growing minituber (potato seed) plants with the help of aeroponic technique. It is the latest technique for growing plants and potato seed production in an air or mist environment. There is no need for soil and this technology is free from soil-borne diseases,” said Dr Prem Chand Sindhu, Deputy Director, PTC, Shamgarh.
He maintained that they have established three units which have the capacity to grow 10 lakh minitubers in one crop cycle which is for three months. The scientists claimed that the production of seeds through this technique is much higher than conventional methods.
Dr Manish Sainger, the senior consultant at PTC, said that on an average, 30 minitubers and maximum 50-60 minitubers can be obtained from each plant. He said that through this technique, 7-10 times more minitubers can be obtained in comparison to conventional methods like net-house or open field.
About the technology, Dr Sainger said they planted tissue culture plants in the grow chambers which have pipes and nozzles for mist spray on the roots of the plant. “The roots of the plant hang in the air in the chamber and all the nutrients are provided through the mist, which consists of all the required elements for plant growth and tuberisation, periodically. The upper part of plant remains at the top of the chamber,” he added. He said that the size of minitubers is uniform at 3-4 gm.
Dr Sainger said it is easy to transport minitubers at minimal cost. “These seeds will be given to growers at subsidised rates by the Department of Horticulture. Later, seed growers will cultivate these seeds in the soil for the multiplication of seeds.”
Every Essential Nutrient Buffered To The Exact pH
Every Essential Nutrient Buffered To The Exact pH
New liquid fertilizer Gold Leaf
A complete liquid fertilizer that contains every essential plant nutrient has been the ‘holy grail’ of liquid fertilizers for many decades. Many have tried to create such a product, all have failed. That is why the developers of “Gold Leaf” by Plater Bio claim to have reached a major achievement with the launch of Gold Leaf.
Plater Bio, founded in 2016 in Glossop (Derbyshire, UK) and have been developing Gold Leaf for the last two years. Plater Bio founder Dr Russell Sharp says “the aim when creating Gold Leaf was not only to produce a product that contained every essential nutrient, but which was also buffered to the exact pH that plants need for optimal growth and with all the micronutrients in a chelated form in order to keep them available to the plant”.
They have done so now and the immediate, and most obvious use for Gold Leaf is as a hydroponic fertilizer. "Currently hydroponic systems rely on two or three-part products that all need to be kept in separate tanks, blended, dosed, pH controlled, and monitored for electrical conductivity (EC). All these tasks need to be completed before fertilizer can be applied to the crop. In contrast, Gold Leaf is simply mixed with water at the desired rate and is then ready for use."
While Gold Leaf was initially designed for hydroponics, it is now being trialed in other agricultural systems, such as field crops. Plater Bio founder Dr. Russell Sharp adds “we are finding there is a lot of interest in Gold Leaf from conventional farming. This is because, as a complete nutrient solution, Gold Leaf reduces the number of products that need to be applied to a crop, thus saving farmers time, money, and water.”
He continues: "While there are suspension products already available that contain lots of plant nutrients, they contain solid material suspended in liquid. The problem with suspension fertilizers is that the solid part (calcium phosphate and calcium sulfate) are completely insoluble, even when diluted down and left for days. This is not surprising as calcium phosphate is the principal component that makes animal bones! This means the calcium and phosphate are not available to the plant, plus the solid particles can block applicator filters."
"The lack of calcium in conventional compound fertilizers has limited crop yields globally as calcium is essential for many metabolic processes in plants. This has meant crops regularly suffer from physiological disorders caused by calcium deficiency, such as Blossom End Rot in tomatoes, or Bitter Pit in apples. In addition, it is now widely accepted that modern fruit and vegetables contain far less mineral nutrients (such as calcium) which are essential for meeting human nutritional demands." As such the team at Plater Bio believe that Gold Leaf is set to become a major new tool employed by farmers in all sectors in the near future.
Gold Leaf is now being tested by potential distribution partners globally and Plater Bio are happy to speak with organizations looking to partner on realizing the full potential of Gold Leaf.
Plater Bio is to exhibit at the GreenTech exhibition June 12-13-14 in Amsterdam. Find them in hall 10, stand 111.
For more information on the GreenTech exhibition and the GreenTech Summit, check out www.greentech.nl.
For more information:
Plater Bio
Publication date: 5/10/2018
BioLumic Raises $5 million Series A to Commercialize UV-based Crop Enhancement Tech
New Zealand agtech startup BioLumic has raised a $5 million Series A round to commercialize its ultraviolet light-based seed and seedling treatments. The round was led by agtech VC Finistere Ventures And Radicle Growth Acceleration Fund.
BioLumic Raises $5 million Series A to Commercialize UV-based Crop Enhancement Tech
New Zealand agtech startup BioLumic has raised a $5 million Series A round to commercialize its ultraviolet light-based seed and seedling treatments. The round was led by agtech VC Finistere Ventures And Radicle Growth Acceleration Fund.
Also participating were Rabobank Food and Agri Innovation Fund and existing investors.
BioLumic has created a seedling treatment using UV light that it says boosts the yield of specialty crops by up to 22% while also making plants heartier and more pest resistant.
“Light is an extremely powerful biological tool that can safely manipulate plants without the concerns often associated with genetic modification, chemical usage, and other unnatural treatments,” said BioLumic CEO Warren Bebb. “BioLumic is the only company using light as an Ag treatment at the beginning of a plant’s life. Exposure to a short-duration treatment of UV-enriched light at a critical stage in a plant’s development turns on characteristics to help the seed or seedling more effectively defend itself against disease or pest attacks and more efficiently use water and nutrients from the soil for its entire lifespan.”
The method was discovered at Massey University in New Zealand when Dr. Jason Wargent (now BioLumic chief science officer) was studying how increased exposure to UV spectrum of light would effect plants — research at the time which was linked to climate change and the shrinking ozone layer.
Researchers discovered that limited exposure to UV spectrum at a particular time in the life cycle of a seedling could pull certain levers within the plant genetics and lead to a heartier plant in a process called UV photomorphogenesis.
“By upping the UV dose to react in a certain way, the plant is reapportioning resources towards areas that we’re targeting and stimulating secondary metabolism and hormone signaling,” said CEO Warren Bebb to AgFunderNews.
Bebb explained that with a few days of UV treatment, plants which are sprouted in a greenhouse fare better when transplanted to the field and benefit from more efficient photosynthesis. Bebb says that the treatment an also be designed to influence traits like color and flavor.
“In indoor growing systems we’ve been able to improve color and also flavor profiles with a late-stage treatment,” said Bebb.
“I fully expect this technology will have applications in vertical farming because you can get better uniformity,” added Arama Kukutai of Finister Ventures, which is also invested in indoor farming company Plenty. Kukutai also believes that this technology could be helpful in converting growers to automated harvesting because BioLumic says that it can contribute to more consistent plant size — a pre-requisite when considering robotic harvesting of any crop.
BioLumic has been conducting two pilot studies on its seedling treatment: one with Taylor Farms Mexico and one with a European grower. These pilots have focused on lettuce, broccoli, strawberry and tomato seedlings.
“We’re coming to the end of those trials and have a seedling treatment system that we’ll be able to scale,” said Bebb.
This funding round will be put to use commercializing the seedling treatment process (which is administered by a thin metal arm equipped with UV lights passing over tables of seedlings). The company will also be looking to develop a seed treatment process using the same concepts that would expand its reach beyond horticulture to broad acre crops.
“Some of the most valuable technologies to date in our space have been seed treatments,” said Kukutai.
Both Kukutai and Radicle’s Richard Haney will join BioLumic’s board.
photo: BioLumic