Cibus, Inc., an agricultural technology company that develops and licenses plant traits to seed companies for royalties, has confirmed its continuing collaboration with the John Innes Centre (JIC).
Cibus applauds the JIC breakthrough discovery, published earlier this year in the journal Nature, of a biological mechanism that makes plant roots more welcoming to beneficial soil microbes. Cibus and JIC have been collaborating to translate JIC’s discovery into a nutrient use efficiency (NUE) trait for a number of crops, including canola/oilseed rape. If successfully developed, the NUE trait would lead to improved nutrient uptake thereby reducing the use of nitrate and phosphate fertilizers without compromising yields.
“Our findings hold great potential for advancing sustainable agriculture. It is unexpected and exciting that we have discovered a mechanism that enhances plant-microbe interactions that can boost nutrient uptake in farming conditions. We have been very pleased to work with Cibus towards the development of a trait offering more sustainable production of economically important crops alongside reduced use of inorganic fertilizers,” stated Dr. Myriam Charpentier, JIC scientist and lead author of the Nature paper.
Dr. Steve Sanders, Vice President External Collaborations commented, “We are very excited about our collaboration with Dr. Charpentier and the talented scientific team at JIC as we continue to leverage our respective capabilities to help translate their discovery toward a trait offering improved nutrient uptake benefiting farmers around the world. With only about one-third of applied fertilizer typically absorbed by a plant, the JIC discovery could enable more productive, sustainable and profitable crops through the use of less fertilizer.”
About nutrient use efficiency
Cibus’ objective for nutrient use efficiency (NUE) traited plants is to enable lower fertilizer use while maintaining or improving expected crop yields. Nutrients, like nitrates and phosphates, are essential for plant growth. Each plant species has specific nutrient requirements to grow and thrive and this is one of the primary determinants of crop yield. However, many soils are naturally low in nutrients and crops deplete soil nutrient content as they grow, leading to the need to fertilize those soils. This is in addition to leaching of nutrients from the soil or fertilizer overuse, which can lead to the pollution of the environment. With plants themselves being inefficient at using the nutrients to which they have access, an effective NUE trait in those plants would enable more efficient nutrient uptake. This could result in less fertilizer use and in turn lead to more productive and profitable crops with reduced environmental impacts.
