Harworld awarded title of Key MARA Laboratory for Microbial Fertilizers

Harworld was recently awarded the title of Key MARA Laboratory for Microbial Fertilizers, which is an honor for the Ministry’s authoritative recognition of Harworld’s research and production capacity in the field of microbial fertilizers.

The establishment of the laboratory will provide a dedicated support resource for scientific research and technical innovation in agricultural production, which is a contribution to the improvement of China’s farming efficiency and product quality. At the same time, the research results of the laboratory can provide a scientific basis for the decision-making process of the Chinese government, to the benefit of the promotion of China’s agricultural modernization and rural development.

The Key MARA Laboratory for Microbial Fertilizers provides technical support to China’s agricultural development, as backed up by its strengthened scientific research capacity. The laboratory collaborates with national academicians, technical institutions and universities to conduct joint research and share resources, thus improving the efficiency of research and facilitating achievements.

The main experimental and research topics of the Key MARA Laboratory for Microbial Fertilizers include biological prevention and control, green chemistry, agricultural microbial resources, microbiome engineering, molecular biology, synthetic biology, development of microecological agents, fermentation engineering, plant-soil microbial interaction mechanisms, the promotion of composite functional bacterial growth, along with pest and disease control mechanisms.

Overview of the Key Laboratory 

1. Technical Partner of the Key Laboratory 

1) On September 30, 2020, Shen Qirong, an academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering, led the organic fertilizer research team at Nanjing Agricultural University to sign a strategic cooperation agreement with Harworld. 

2) On February 9, 2021, He Yueqiu, a national second level professor and doctoral supervisor at Yunnan Agricultural University, signed a cooperation agreement with Harworld to jointly develop and produce microbial agents for application to the biocontrol of powdery mildew, as well as the biocontrol of diseases and pests, such as cruciferous root knots, citrus yellow shoots and red spiders. This is a contribution to the reduction of pesticide use and pesticide residue.

3) In March 2018, the Agricultural Biological Resources Research Institute of Fujian Academy of Agricultural Sciences entered into a cooperation agreement with Harworld to conduct a series of researches on formulation and application of growth-promotion and disease-prevention microbial agents, such as Brevibacillus, Bacillus firmus and Bacillus subtilis.

4) In 2021, Harworld collaborated with the Institute of Microbiology of the Chinese Academy of Sciences to undertake a research program on behalf of the Guangxi Department of Science and Technology, focusing on commercialization and application of a novel biological agent for control of banana wilt.

2. Facilities of the Laboratory 

1) Detection and analytical instruments

• State-of-the-art high-performance liquid chromatography (VqCH) of Thermo Fisher 

  
  

• ELIASA of Thermo Fisher

  
  

• Qsight^®LC-MS/MS, an ultra-performance liquid chromatograph-triple quadrupole tandem mass spectrometer, developed and produced by PerkinElmer 

  
  

• AvioTM 200 inductively coupled a plasma emission spectrometer developed and produced by PerkinElmer, atomic absorption spectrometer and gradient PCR amplifier for use in chemical analysis, biochemical analysis, trace element analysis and biological DNA analysis.

2) Strain preservation and fermentation test equipment 

• 5 ultra-low temperature medical refrigerators at -80 ℃, which can store more than 11,000 functional strains; 4 refrigerators at -40 ℃ for researcher’s daily use; 5 refrigerators at -4 ℃.

  
  

• 8 freezing centrifuges, including 1 high-speed freezing centrifuge, 6 vacuum freeze dryers with a liquid loading capacity of 10ml to 500ml, 10 ultra clean workbenches, 6 biological constant temperature incubators and 8 sets of biological microscopes.

  
  

• 15 imported incubator shakers, 3 small tetrad fermentation tanks, 30 5L experimental fermentation tanks and 8 30L-100L pilot fermentation tanks. More than 100,000 culture dishes are used annually.

3) 4 fully automated microbial and biological pilot production lines, which can fulfil the needs of 5 levels of submerged fermentation, with fully automated solid Trichoderma harzianum fermentation pilot production lines.

Gene editing technology is used to construct cell factories, via fermentation, isolation and purification of engineering bacteria, to produce, based on enzymatic hydrolysis, high-activity substances, such as γ-aminobutyric acid (GABA), brown algae oligosaccharides, 5-aminolevulinic acid, α-ketoglutarate and glucosylglycerol.

Each year from 2020 to 2023, the laboratory sent professional research teams to extreme environments to collect samples of soil, plants and water bodies, from which microorganism and endophytic bacteria are isolated, having screened over 4,000 strains with specific functions. These strains are applied to agricultural production to mitigate problems encountered in planting, reduce the use of fertilizers and pesticides, as well as to increase crop yields and quality.

In 2023, the laboratory cooperated with the Shenyang Institute of Ecological Application of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, Fujian Academy of Agricultural Sciences and Gansu Yasheng Group in a joint scientific investigation across 10 state-owned farms, no-man’s deserts, plateau mountain areas and salt lakes, having collected over 2,000 strains. 

In 2022, the laboratory worked with the Guangxi Academy of Sciences and Guangxi University to conduct joint scientific research, travelling to the freshwater jellyfish cluster, Bama long life town and the world’s largest karst topographic area to collect karst samples of rocks, soil, vegetation and water bodies, having screened out unique and beneficial microorganisms. 

In 2021, the laboratory conducted scientific research of the Beibu Gulf ecosystem, having collected marine resource samples and isolated bacterial strains.

In 2020, the laboratory conducted scientific research in Gongga Snow Mountain in west Sichuan, collecting organisms from barren soil in high-altitude mountainous areas and extremely cold regions.

To improve the efficiency of the biocontrol-oriented research, since 2019 the laboratory began to collect soil samples from plots suffering severe crop diseases throughout the country. As of December 2023, the laboratory collected 40 tons of soil with cotton greensickness in Xinjiang, 30 tons of soil with ginger stem rot in Shandong, 40 tons of soil with potato scab in Shaanxi and 30 tons of soil with cucumber root knot nematode in Shandong, which total over 1,000 tons of soil, involving more than 20 types of soil diseases.

Registrations: First Chinese registrant of Brevibacillus and the Brevibacillus + Bacillus velezensis mixture, the only registrant so far.

The laboratory can provide a series of microecological formulations for application to the biocontrol of diseases, without chemical pesticides and residue. These products include Miefenyou for the control of powdery mildew (patent number: ZL201510956417.X), Xianbiqing for the prevention of crop root knot nematodes, Bingkang for the control of Fusarium wilt on the Solanaceous crop in southern China, Yajian for biological improvements of saline-alkali soil, Junjiafu for improvement of cold resistance of rice and soybean crops in northeast China, Junjiafu plus for cotton, wheat and tomato in northwest China’s salt and alkali cropland.

The Key MARA Laboratory for Microbial Fertilizers is making continuing efforts on research and development towards more innovative achievements, which will be a great contribution to China’s rural development initiative and the world’s sustainable agricultural development.