Tradecorp's new study reveals how biostimulants enhance crop tolerance to abiotic stresses

Recently, Tradecorp R&D new study¹ published in Plants MDPI journal shows the mode of action of Phylgreen and Delfan Plus at a molecular and genomic scale against heat stress. The study was conducted by Tradecorp International, the University of Milan and Italian agricultural research Centre Agricola 2000 during 2018 and 2019.

The effect of Phylgreen and Delfan Plus applied as preventive treatments to plants exposed to short-term heat stress was analysed in this study. The main conclusions of the research were that, at physiological level, both biostimulants increased antioxidant capacity of plants and were able to reduce the oxidative damage generated by heat shock in leaves and cell membranes, thus preventing oxidative stress and damage on cellular structures. Furthermore, transcriptomic analyses showed a strong influence in the regulation of the plant genetic responses, effectively inducing the activation of specific heat stress-associated genes belonging to different families of heat shock proteins (HPS), antioxidant systems, and reactive oxygen species (ROS) scavengers.

These results are key to understand the mode of action of biostimulants against heat stress by activating antioxidant and heat repair systems and represent a starting point for further studies focusing on agricultural crops.

Phylgreen and Delfan Plus are Tradecorp’s benchmark biostimulant products particularly well known as references to enhance crop tolerance to abiotic stresses, improving crop performance even in the suboptimal conditions, thus increasing crop yield and quality traits. The right timing application and approach is crucial, stated in Tradecorp’s Biostimulation 360° campaign, as dealing with different types of abiotic stresses and requires specific solutions to match the biostimulation needs of the plant, from sowing to harvest and from roots to fruits.

On this matter, Associate Professor, Prof. Antonio Ferrante and Assistant Professor, Dr. Giacomo Cocetta, from University of Milan, explained in an previous interview that “the timing of biostimulant application is very important, since the efficacy of the products is related to the activation of specific pathways […]. Earlier (biostimulant) applications can lead to a lack of response when the stress occurs, given that plants can degrade the bioactive molecules. Conversely, applications that come too late can lead to low responses, as the stress can damage the crop when inducing the physiological and biological responses”.

In fact, Tradecorp previous studies with drought stress², in a collaboration with Queen’s University of Belfast, demonstrated a biostimulant-mediated drought tolerance, requiring different moments of application for successful stress mitigation.

Read more about the recently published study here.

References:

1. Cocetta G. et al. (2022) ‘Priming Treatments with Biostimulants to Cope the Short-Term Heat Stress Response: A Transcriptomic Profile Evaluation’, Plants, 11(9): 1130. Doi: 10.3390/plants11091130

2. Fleming T.R. et al. (2019) ‘Biostimulants enhance growth and drought tolerance in Arabidopsis thaliana and exhibit chemical priming action’, Appl. Biol., 1-13. Doi: 10.1111/aab.12482