BAW 2023 – Biotrop launches search for new microorganisms for bioinputs

Biotrop presented a new project for prospecting functional fungi and bacteria, which will be the basis for formulating the bioinputs of the future.

The Nimbles project was launched during the BioAg World Congress (BAW 2023), an event held in Rio de Janeiro (Brazil), with special coverage by AgroPages.

Through Nimbles, Biotrop began expeditions to Brazilian biomes to discover new functional microorganisms and build ″the foundation of the future of bioinputs″.

Brazil is the country with the greatest biodiversity on the planet. A large part of the Brazilian agricultural production capacity is related to this natural wealth formed by hundreds of living beings.

According to the company, the discoveries will be used mainly to develop biological solutions for controlling diseases and pests in crops and promoting plant growth.

Expeditions are conducted by a multidisciplinary team of professionals, including agronomists, biologists, and microbiologists.

The leader of Nimbles is Juliana Marcolino Gomes, a biologist, geneticist, and coordinator of innovation and Botanicals at Biotrop.

According to her, the first expedition will take place in the Atlantic Forest, and stages will be conducted in the other five Brazilian biomes: Amazon, Cerrado, Caatinga, Pantanal, and Pampa.

″We expect to find new microorganisms, but also members of species that are already known, but which present unique characteristics, specific to each isolate/strain″, explains the coordinator.

After being identified in expeditions, microorganisms are taken to Biotrop's laboratory to be isolated and separated.

Cryopreservation is then conducted, which guarantees its storage in a viable way and the usefulness of the microorganisms for a long time.

In the next step, the samples undergo morphophysiological characterization and, ultimately, functional characterization that includes biochemical and genetic information.

On each expedition, which lasts at least a week, professionals collect millions of microorganisms.

After the next steps, isolation and characterization, hundreds of them are selected to compose the functional bank.

It is estimated that in just 1 gram of soil, there are from 1 million to 1 billion microorganisms. Therefore, it is on this material that the Biotrop team focuses when it is in the field.

BAW 2023 was aimed at a specialist audience, with technical sections, presentation of research and studies, discussion of the most relevant topics related to the biological and natural products segment, and awards for companies and personalities in sustainable growth, entrepreneurs, and innovation.

The President and Founder of Biotrop, Antonio Carlos Zem, was one of the honorees and opened the event.

(Editing by Leonardo Gottems, reporter for AgroPages)