The Need: Increasing Resilience of Ornamental Crops to Water Stress

Ornamental crop growers face significant challenges due to water deficit stress, which negatively impacts plant growth, flowering, and overall crop quality. Water stress during both production and post-production phases can result in reduced photosynthetic capacity and diminished crop quality for consumers. While microbe-containing biostimulant products show promise in improving stress tolerance and crop quality, their efficacy in greenhouse production systems remains inconsistent. The horticulture industry requires reliable and effective tools to enhance the resiliency of ornamental crops, ensuring they can withstand water stress without compromising their overall health and quality.

The Technology: Harnessing Beneficial Bacteria for Crop Resilience

Our innovative technology identifies and utilizes beneficial bacteria from the rhizosphere of water-stressed greenhouse ornamental plants. Through a rigorous isolation and screening process, we have selected bacterial strains with demonstrated osmoadaptability and ACC deaminase activity—essential traits for enhancing stress tolerance. These selected bacterial strains were further evaluated in high-throughput greenhouse trials to assess their ability to increase plant size and flower number under water stress conditions. The technology was validated in greenhouse trials using two commercially significant ornamental crop species, Petunia X hybrida and Pelargonium X hortorum, which confirmed its effectiveness in enhancing plant growth and mitigating the negative impacts of water stress on photosynthetic parameters.

Commercial Applications: Versatile Tools for Horticulture Industry

• Greenhouse Ornamental Crop Production: Growers can incorporate the identified bacterial strains into their production systems to prime ornamental plants for increased resilience against water stress throughout their life cycle, resulting in healthier and higher-quality crops.
• Biostimulant Products: The technology enables the development of specialized biostimulant products tailored to enhance abiotic stress tolerance in greenhouse crops, particularly ornamental species. These products offer a reliable solution for growers seeking to optimize crop performance under water stress conditions.
• Horticultural Practices: The implementation of plant growth promoting bacteria can become a widely adopted horticultural practice to improve the overall stress tolerance and quality of ornamental crops, leading to more sustainable and profitable production.

Benefits/Advantages: Enhancing Crop Health and Quality

• Consistent Stress Tolerance: By utilizing selected bacterial strains, growers can expect more consistent and reliable stress tolerance in their ornamental crops, reducing the risk of losses due to water deficit stress.
• Increased Crop Quality: The technology enhances crop health and quality, leading to improved aesthetics and consumer satisfaction, both at retail and in home gardens.
• Sustainable Production: By priming plants to better withstand water stress, the technology promotes more sustainable crop production practices, potentially reducing the need for excessive water use and chemical interventions.
• Improved Photosynthetic Performance: The bacterial strains not only increase plant size and flower number but also positively impact photosynthetic parameters, resulting in healthier and more vibrant ornamental plants.
• Diversification of Biostimulant Options: With a novel collection of bacteria specifically targeting ornamental crops, growers gain access to a diversified set of biostimulant options tailored to their unique needs.

In conclusion, our technology offers the horticulture industry a cutting-edge solution to address water stress challenges in ornamental crop production. By harnessing the power of beneficial bacteria, growers can expect increased crop resilience, improved quality, and a more sustainable approach to ornamental cultivation.