Jaroslav Nisler, from the Institute of Experimental Botany, Czech Academy of Sciences, says MTU could reduce input costs and increase or protect yields of individual crops, particularly as levels of abiotic stress increase with climate change.
“The substance MTU was designed and synthesized for the first time in the Laboratory of Growth Regulators in Olomouc, which is a joint department of the Institute of Experimental Botany and the Palacký University in Olomouc,” says Nisler. “And it was the Institute of Experimental Botany that patented this compound for possible use in agriculture.”
MTU is an abbreviation of the chemical name 1-(2-methoxy-ethyl)-3-1,2,3-thiadiazol-5-yl urea (Fig. 1). It is a urea-based synthetic substance that was designed as a combination of thidiazuron and kinetin, i.e., two known plant hormones, the cytokinins (Fig. 1), which are known for their strong anti-senescence effect.
Figure 1. Structural formula of the cytokinins thidiazuron and kinetin, MTU and urea. The parts of the molecules that were combined during the design of the MTU molecule are markedin colour.
“The basic property of MTU is its ability to inhibit the breakdown of chlorophyll,” notes Nisler. “Available information suggests that MTU is the most effective chemical in this respect.”
This effect was revealed in a senescence test using young wheat leaves. The leaves are cut from the
plant, immersed by their base in a solution of the test substance (or in water for control) and stored in the dark for five days. The clipping injury and darkness induce chlorophyll breakdown in the leaves, leading to yellowing. MTU hinders this process, allowing the leaves to remain green (Fig.2) unlike the control leaves.
Figure 2. An example of the result of the senescence test with wheat leaves and the apparent positive effect of MTU on the preservation of chlorophyll.
The same effect of MTU was observed on wheat leaves exposed to other abiotic stresses, in periods of drought, heat or salinity. Although the leaves wilt in a similar way to untreated control plants, they remain deep green and are in significantly better condition once the stress is removed, for example after rewatering, ready for photosynthesis and growth (Fig. 3, Nisler et al., 2018; 2023).
Figure 3. Effect of MTU on chlorophyll retention in wheat leaves grown in water deficit.
“These results were not all that surprising considering the protective nature of MTU,” says Nisler. “Far more surprising was the fact that MTU increased the content of chlorophyll a and b, beta-carotene, and lutein by about 15 to 20 percent in plants grown under optimal conditions [Nisler et al., 2023]. In other words, MTU inhibits not only stress-induced senescence but also age-induced senescence. The latter plays a major role in the aging of individual leaves in cereal species. MTU prolongs the photosynthetically active lifetime of individual leaves, enabling them to photosynthesize more and for longer, absorbing more CO2 and creating energy-rich sugars, which the plants use for growth.
“Interestingly, MTU has a more pronounced effect on root growth than on the shoot,” adds Nisler. “The root is about 20 percent larger in optimal conditions, while the shoot is usually only 10 percent larger. However, in drought or heat stress, the treated plants had an average 40 percent larger root system (Fig. 4).”
Figure 4. The effect of MTU on the growth of the root system of wheat exposed to a constant temperature of 30 degrees C.
This positive effect on root growth clearly distinguishes MTU from the plant hormones cytokinins, which inhibit primary root growth (Fig. 5). It can therefore be concluded that MTU provides the benefits of cytokinins (anti-senescence/anti-stress effect) without a negative effect on root growth.
Figure 5. Comparison of the effect of MTU and cytokinin thidiazuron on root development and growth in young wheat.
“Our subsequent experiments confirmed that MTU is not a cytokinin and that it increases leaf chlorophyll content through the protection of Photosystem I [Nisler et al., 2023],” says Nisler “Together with Photosystem II, this is key for the proper functioning of photosynthesis. In addition, Photosystem I protects plant cells from oxidative stress that accompanies photosynthesis and is exacerbated by drought and heat stress. In this regard, the mechanism of action of MTU is unique, since neither cytokinins nor any other substances, have this protective effect on Photosystem I.”
Farmers will certainly be interested in the fact that MTU significantly improves the absorption of nitrogen fertilizers (Fig. 6). Plants contain a certain ratio of carbon to nitrogen. MTU increases the efficiency of photosynthesis, meaning that plants take up more CO2 from the air which increases the carbon-containing sugars they hold. To compensate for this excess, plants take up more nitrogen.
Figure 6. Effect of MTU on nitrogen content in leaves of 60-day-old wheat grown in a greenhouse at optimal and reduced nitrogen doses. MTU was applied to the leaf 25 and 50 days after sowing.
“In essence, this is the opposite of classic fertilization, where we apply large doses of nitrogen to force the plants to ‘be greener’ and grow better,” says Nisler. “It is clear from Figure 6 that wheat plants grown at 60 percent nitrogen and treated with MTU have almost the same nitrogen content (96 percent) in their leaves as untreated plants grown with 100 percent fertilization.”
A similar effect can be observed in the results from a field experiment with corn (Fig. 7). Here, the application of STATUS (a trade name for a biostimulant containing MTU) compensated for the yield loss with reduced nitrogen fertilization. It should be added that, in addition to MTU, STATUS also contains pidolic acid, which is involved in better nitrogen assimilation and supports the growth of the above-ground parts of the plant.
Figure 7. Effect of STATUS product on corn yield atreduced fertilizer dose. Nitrogen was applied as calcium ammonium nitrate, 100% = 300 kg/ha, 85% = 255 kg/ha. Status was applied at a dose of 0.25 L/ha in BBCH13.
“The combination of MTU with pidolic acid is not a coincidence,” confirms Nisler. “Our greenhouse experiments have shown that these two compounds complement each other in their effects and often even show a synergistic effect.
“The positive effects of these two compounds are of course also reflected in the yield,” he adds, pointing to the results of field trials conducted by Palacký University (in 2014 - 2018), and the UK company Intracrop, which owns a license to use MTU (in 2018 - 2022). The results show that MTU/STATUS increases the average yield of wheat, barley, corn, sunflower and rapeseed by six to 15 percent, depending on climatic conditions (part of the results are published here: Nisler et al., 2023). In drier and warmer years, yield improvement was greater than in years with more favourable weather. Even in these years, however, there was an increase in yield in the range of five to 10 percent if MTU/STATUS was applied in the early stages of plant development, at BBCH 25-35 for cereals (Nisler et al., 2023).
In general, Nisler says it is better to apply STATUS to younger plants because they accumulate more chlorophyll and grow faster for the duration of the product's effect (approx. four to six weeks). They carry this benefit with them throughout their life and it is then reflected in, for example, a greater number of strong offshoots, the number of grains in the ear or thousand grain weight.
“Likewise, if we want to use STATUS to increase plant tolerance to drought, heat, or other abiotic stress, we must apply STATUS before the stress – ideally one week before a heat wave and drought,” notes Nisler. “If the plants are already starting to turn yellow (lose chlorophyll), it is too late to apply the product. In addition to the crops already mentioned, very good results have been achieved in mitigating the effects of drought and heat when applied to potatoes, sugar beet and grapevines.”
Nisler says the use of STATUS can be recommended “where we want to reduce the negative effect of drought, heat and other stresses that lead to the loss of chlorophyll and reduced photosynthetic activity of plants; where we would like to save some fertilizer while maintaining yield; or where we want to increase the effect of fertilizeron yield.
“The return on investment is between 200 and 300 percent,” he adds. “It is good to remember that MTU is a substance of a hormonal nature, so it works at very low concentration. For example, it is applied to the leaf in a spray with a concentration of 10 micromolar, which corresponds to 0.5 g/ha MTU when using STATUS 0.25 L/ha in a spray volume of 200 L/ha.” This is also related to an almost zero negative impact on the environment. According to the results obtained by the Central Institute for Supervising and Testing in Agriculture, MTU has no effect on the soil microbiome, its bacteria, invertebrates, and other organisms.
In future years, STATUS will be available in multiple European countries. ●
For more than ten years, Siberio has been a benchmark for fruit growers, who have been able to appreciate its benefits in improving sprouting. But now the formulation developed by Greenhas Group - widely marketed in Europe and worldwide - takes a further step forward: it has in fact become the first CE biostimulant authorised in compliance with the Fertilizer Regulation (2019/1009/EU) precisely with the specific indication of enhancing sprouting in tree crops. This authorisation, on which the company has invested time and resources, highlights the group's commitment to offering solutions to farmers to address the impacts of climate change in agriculture.
These impacts are challenging established production models, but the evolution of technical means is providing concrete answers to face this challenge as well: having the CE biostimulant Siberio available is an example of this, as it intervenes when there are insufficient cold hours.
Greenhas Group, continuing to work in close contact with the agricultural supply chain to provide solutions and guarantees to producers, in recent years has noted increasing difficulties in the cultivation of table grapevines, actinidia, stone fruit and even apple trees in terms of correct and natural sprouting. These difficulties are evident in some specific aspects, such as the presence of small and unnaturally shaped leaves, in various
flower anomalies, and even scalar ripening - although far from the sprouting time - can actually be traced back to the failure to reach enough cold hours.
The use of Siberio to promote vegetative awakening and sprouting uniformity is an important tool for farmers to improve the productivity and quality of their production, even in the face of a changing and difficult climatic environment. This is the basis for ensuring profitability of the agricultural enterprise but also sustainable food production.
Siberio's biological activitySiberio evens out the spring awakening of buds, makes vegetative recovery and subsequent flowering more homogeneous, quantitatively and qualitatively increasing the production of crops in geographical areas where, due to mild winters, the necessary cold requirements are not reached. And this phenomenon is closely linked to climate change: the average rise in temperatures impacts the phenological cycles of fruit trees, but Siberio comes into play precisely to overcome these stresses.
Every tree crop, in fact, needs a certain number of hours of cold weather in order to germinate properly. Even in the past, there were winters when temperatures were higher than average, and so it happened that not all crops reached the necessary amount of cold. This led to a path of having products that could compensate for this lack, but in recent years the phenomenon has definitely exploded: we are facing warmer and warmer winters, and this is happening more frequently. This is why global warming is challenging established agronomic models; but the effects of climate change can also be addressed as part of an agronomic strategy capable of restoring balance in the various phenological phases of the plant. In this, the role of biostimulants is very important: in fact, they are capable of intervening at several levels to improve the natural processes of the plant itself, through metabolic actions and plant-productive rebalancing, promoting qualitative and quantitative improvement of production, but also overcoming stress situations linked to climate change.
And this is where the subject of cold weather comes in, which in fruit growing is becoming increasingly central and now affects all producing countries across the board. Siberio is a CE biostimulant that compensates for the missing cold hours and thus enables plants to sprout properly as if the winter had been sufficiently cold.
The product is applied with a 'browning' treatment on the aerial part of the plant at least 40-50 days before the expected sprouting. Siberio penetrates rapidly into the dormant buds, also transporting nutrients that, once in the plant organ, activate enzymatic processes and provide the necessary energy to the meristematic tissues for the start of vegetative recovery.
Target CropsSiberio is used on table grapes, actinidia, stone fruit (cherry, apricot, plum) and pome fruit. But in the future, a further label extension of Greenhas Group's CE biostimulant to cover new high value crops, such as small fruits, is not excluded.
Climate change is a concern, and not just today, and is one of the factors with the greatest impact on agricultural production. In orchards, as mentioned earlier, it is becoming increasingly difficult to accumulate the necessary hours of cold weather. For example, until about ten years ago, one would never have imagined that a formulation such as Siberio would be used on apple trees, but now the biostimulant is also requested by apple growers, who traditionally operated in areas where winters were sufficiently cold. While this is a significant sign of the evolution of climate change, it also highlights the role of research and how the work of Greenhas Group has made available to the industry a biostimulant that intervenes precisely in improving and standardizing sprouting: a concrete and effective response to a new need of fruit growers. This is particularly important in stone fruit, where flower buds sprout before wood buds: Siberio therefore promotes uniformity of sprouting, flowering and also makes the work of pollinating insects easier, as they are essential for transporting pollen from one flower to another and thus enabling pollination of the flower and formation of the fruit.
Siberio’s advantages. The action of Siberio does not stop at vegetative awakening alone - by standardising sprouting - but brings appreciable benefits on the balance of flowering and subsequent fruit set.
Intervening with Siberio is therefore strategic and lays the foundations for the best possible harvest: in fact, it facilitates all the generative phases following sprouting.
Finally, as regards application, Siberio is diluted in water and distributed in the orchard using the most common sprayers. We recommend using Siberio in combination with its activator SiberioOn. ●
Valent BioSciences LLChas announced the construction of a new manufacturing facility in White City, Oregon (U.S.) to meet the increasing demands and projected future growth for its MycoApply arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) products.
The new plant will complement the existing headquarters and manufacturing operations for its subsidiary company, Mycorrhizal Applications LLC, in Grants Pass, Oregon.
Mycorrhizal Applications researches and markets mycorrhizal fungi. These specialized fungi colonize plant roots to create a symbiotic root-and-mycelial network within the surrounding soils, increasing efficiency in nutrient and water absorption to optimize plant hardiness and vigour.
The White City facility will produce AMF that are utilized in the agriculture, horticulture, and turf and ornamental markets.
“We are excited to begin construction in White City and expand our operations in southern Oregon, where Mycorrhizal Applications was founded more than 25 years ago,” said Valent BioSciences president and CEO Salman Mir. “We have enjoyed a strong partnership with the community and look forward to expanding our business and fostering new relationships in White City and southern Oregon in the years ahead.” ●
Executives of Valent BioSciences attended the groundbreaking ceremony in White City, Oregon. Photo: Valent BioSciences
Toopi Organics, a French biotechnology startup developing plant biostimulants derived from the fermentation of human urine, announced the closing of a €16M (USD$17M) financing round.
The fresh capital will be used to expand the company’s urine collection network, launch three new urine-based products in EU, and establish two industrial sites, in France and Belgium, in order to reach a transformation capacity exceeding two million liters of urine per year by 2027.
“With this fundraise, our goal is to deploy a range of urine-based biostimulants across 600,000 hectares of crops in Europe in 2027,” said Alexandra Carpentier, CEO of Toopi Organics. “Over the past three years, our first product – the Lactopi Start – underwent over 40 agronomic trials. It is now approved, including for use in organic agriculture. The product was very well received in Belgium this year, with very encouraging field results from clients, which bodes well for the distribution campaign in France, which is starting now.”
This series A financing round was led by VisVires New Protein, a global fund supporting ambitious teams developing transformative solutions for a healthier, safer, and more regenerative agri-food system, alongside European impact funds Edaphon, Noshaq and MAIF Impact, as well as BNP Paribas Développement. Existing investors, including IRDI, JOHES, and MakeSense, also participated. In addition to attracting €11M in equity, Toopi Organics secured €5M of non-dilutive funding. Creating new opportunities for water conservation and for the transition to a more sustainable and resilient farming model in the EU, the company obtained a €3,8M impact grant from the French government (ADEME) and a €1,1M grant from Bpifrance. ●
Syngenta Seedcare opened its first biologicals service centre at The Seedcare Institute in Maintal, Germany.
Equipped with state-of-the-art technologies, the centre addresses growing farmer demand across the EU for biological seed treatment solutions.
Syngenta Seedcare currently operates 18 Seedcare Institutes with more than 120 experts globally. Additional biological service centres are set to be added to more Seedcare Institutes in future.
“Our leadership in biological innovation and seed treatment is built on our ability to constantly enhance and adapt our service offers,” said Jonathan Brown, Global Head Seedcare. “This new biologicals service centre enables the successful use of biologicals as seed-applied solutions through shared practical knowledge and resources.”
Syngenta Seedcare offers a portfolio of biological seed treatment solutions, comprising the EPIVIO range of biostimulants, ATUVA to promote nutrient use efficiency for soybean and legume crops, and NUELLO biofertilizers that leverage nitrogen fixation and promotesoil health.
The biologicals service centre in Maintal offers specialized expertise to support the application of new biological seed treatments. These include extensive competence in microbiology – from understanding the viability on-seed and in-mixture with other active ingredients, the ability to develop assays for all microbial products, to expertise on the handling of sensitive biologicals throughout the process. It will also provide value-adding services, including advisory on water quality and recipe compatibility, on-seed survivability measurement, guidelines for storage, handling and cleaning, and specialized training on proper stewardship of biologicals. ●
Bionema Group has unveiled a new biostimulant product in the UK developed for application in agriculture, horticulture, forestry, turf and amenities.
RootVita is a blend of biofertilizers, PGPR (plant growth promoting rhizobacteria), essential nutrients, prebiotics, and vitamins.
Plants treated with RootVita exhibit improved resistance to abiotic stress factors such as heat, drought and salt. Additionally, their roots tend to access more nutrients and absorb water more effectively. The formula addresses a wide range of critical aspects for plant growth and soil enhancement, including nitrogen fixation, phosphorus solubilization, silica solubilization, potash mobilization, micronutrient assimilation, soil health, and organic carbon enrichment.
The Bionema team conducted a series of glasshouse and field trials across various locations including the UK, EU, India, Canada and Mexico. The results of these trials suggest that RootVita has the potential to enable farmers to reduce their fertilizer usage by up to 30 percent, all while maintaining approximately 93 percent of their crop yields. Specifically, in Bionema's glasshouse trials, root growth was observed to be 35 percent more robust when using a recommended mixture of 50 percent fertilizer in combination with Bionema's RootVita product.
Bionema’s expanded portfolio enhances the company’s offering to the biological agriculture sector, and complements its ongoing research, training and other services in the continuing development of novel biological solutions. It reflects Bionema’s evolution in focus and strategy, announced in 2022 following the company’s deal with Syngenta that secured Bionema’s position as a top 20 world-leading biocontrol company. ●
Every day, the reports grow more alarming.
From another crop lost to flooding in India, to sudden frost in the US, to searing heat in Africa. In every corner of the world, climate impacts such as extreme weather events, loss of biodiversity, degrading ecosystems, and water scarcity will worsen as the planet warms. Without action, the changing climate will affect food availability and hinder access to food.
Agriculture and food systems are a huge part of the climate solution, but they must transform through inclusive, multisectoral approaches that reduce greenhouse gas emissions and build resilience and adaptive capability.
The urgency for all of us to act is certainly upon us. With a little inspiration from the ocean and a whole lot of innovation from science, today’s biostimulants are protecting plants and securing global food supplies against severe weather events as never before.
The shift from biotic to abiotic stress innovationsThe dangers of biotic stressors like disease and pest control have always been known and, frankly, well supported with innovative products.
But the fact of the matter is climate change, and the increased abiotic stress that comes from it causes significantly more harvest loss. Increasingly unfavourable growing conditions have contributed to farmers losing between 30-70%of their harvests.
Given this, we should expect a dramatic shift as more focusand resources gravitate toward sustainable biostimulantsolutions like those being perfected at Acadian Plant Health™. Especially since abiotic stressors can negatively impact the biotic stressof pathogens, insects, andweeds themselves.
What’s possible begins with whatwe can imagine In the intertidal waters of the North Atlantic, Ascophyllum nodosum seaweed survives,
indeed thrives, in some of the harshest growing conditions on earth. Its resilience to rapid fluctuations inspired our scientists to extract its elements in their most active form and apply these resilient qualities to biostimulant technologies for agriculture on land.
Biostimulants are a category of product that work with the crops' natural physiological processes to enhance or benefit nutrient uptake, nutrient use efficiency, tolerance to abiotic stress, and protecting crop quality and yield.
By turning on a plant's defenses we are able to provide protection against abiotic stressors for the full potential of the crop. These innovative products can help address some of our greatest challenges so that we can all create a sustainable future. With regards to climate change specifically, Acadian biostimulants play an active role in helping plants mitigate stress conditions. They have shown benefits such as significantly enhanced root growth, nutrient efficiency, and increasedsoil microbial activity - all of which protect the potential yield ofthe crop.
With the UN prediction of zero agricultural soil remaining by 2050 at the same time the population meets 10 billion with an extra56% food demand – things need to change.
The truth is our approach to consumerism and agriculture has been laser-focused on more productivity without a thought for the implications. Sustainability is a relatively new idea for industry, but agriculture can go a step further. What if we could use an industry to reverse the impact of greenhouse gas emissions by redressing the balance? This is where regenerative agriculture comes into play. The idea here is to use a combination of technologies that leverage the mass scale of agriculture. Seems to be farfetched but not so far when you consider technologies like Acadians Ascophyllum nodosum already contribute to such a system. We know that the seaweed absorbs atmospheric carbon as it grows and when we coppice it at harvest, we generate carbon absorbing annual regrowth. Take this to the next phase where the crop root biomass increase in turn increases soil carbon to help maintain soil health which in turn improves plant health to improve photosynthetic capacity – we have a product cycle that potentially reduces atmospheric carbon emissions.
As agriculture scales up to meet the new food demand then so do the benefits of regenerative agriculture. Now is the time to challenge ourselves to Sea Beyond. To see a future where performance and sustainability are commonplace and regenerative technologies come together to create a new global agriculture that takes and gives back to the planet in a win/win relationship.
Let’s meet the urgency of climate change with a climate of innovationFew industries are as dependent on climate and weather as agriculture. This means as long as climate change continues, poorer harvests, poorer quality, and higher costs can be expected. According to Scientific American, climate-fueled temperature increases generated $27 billion in insurance payouts between 1991 and 2017.
But since knowingly turning a blind eye is no longer a luxury we can afford, what if we met the urgency of the moment with inspired thinking and innovation? The kind that refuses to see performance and sustainability as separate solitudes but unites them as one. For the benefit of plants and planet.
This secure, habitable future is within our grasp, if only we choose to Sea Beyond. ●
Buchanan, B.B., Gruissem, W. and Jones, R.L. (2000) Biochemistry and molecular biology of plants. American Society of Plant Physiology, Rockville, Maryland.
