2023
Development of Seed-treating Biostimulants that Protect Soybean Plants from Biotic and Abiotic Stresses
Contributor/Checkoff:
Category:
Sustainable Production
Keywords:
Abiotic stressAgricultureBiotic stressSeed coating
Parent Project:
This is the first year of this project.
Lead Principal Investigator:
Jong Hyun Ham, Louisiana State University AgCenter
Co-Principal Investigators:
Project Code:
23-209-S-D-2-A
Contributing Organization (Checkoff):
Institution Funded:
$65,700
Brief Project Summary:
The goal of this proposal is to develop a new seed treatment technology using beneficial microbes for protection of soybean plants at early growth stages from various biotic and abiotic stresses. Soybean plants at a plantlet stage are more vulnerable to damages from abnormal weather conditions or outbreaks of diseases and pests because of their weaker and immature plant tissues.
Information And Results
Project Summary

Project Objectives

Project Deliverables

Progress Of Work

Final Project Results

The goal of this proposal is to develop a new seed treatment technology using beneficial microbes for enhancing soybean resilience to various biotic and abiotic stresses. We performed research activities for the following objectives: 1) To determine optimal experimental conditions to assess the soybean resilience to abiotic stresses; 2) To assess the efficacy of biostimulants (bacterial consortium/mixture) in enhancing the tolerance to abiotic stresses; 3) To assess the efficacy of biostimulants (bacterial consortium/mixture) in enhancing the resistance to soybean pathogen Rhizoctonia solani, 4) To verify the efficacy of biostimulants in field conditions of Louisiana, and 5) To identify soybean-associated beneficial bacteria enhancing the resilience to drought stress. From our research on this project, we optimized the experimental conditions for drought, flooding, and salinity stresses; found that seed treatment of the biostimulants developed from this project (bacterial consortium/mixture) enhanced the soybean tolerance to abiotic stresses significantly, showing ~ 30-100% improvement in germination rate and root development, as well as the soybean resistance to a major fungal pathogen R. sonali; and formulated new bacterial consortia as biostimulants that enhanced the growth and development of soybean plants in normal and drought conditions. As key outcomes of this project, we have published two research articles and secured one federal research grant fund from National Science Foundation for studying soybean resilience to heat and drought stresses.

Benefit To Soybean Farmers

Development of new seed treatment technology to enhance the growth and resilience of soybean plants to multiple biotic and abiotic stresses.

The United Soybean Research Retention policy will display final reports with the project once completed but working files will be purged after three years. And financial information after seven years. All pertinent information is in the final report or if you want more information, please contact the project lead at your state soybean organization or principal investigator listed on the project.