Progress 10/01/15 to 09/30/19
Outputs
Target Audience:The target audiences are companies that produce vermicompost and biostimulants, and the larger US seed industry. Changes/Problems:
Nothing Reported
What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?A Post-Doc working on the project attended three conferences over the course of the project, and presented poster on her work investigating vermicompost as a biostimulant, seed coating. The Post-Doc published a journal article in 2019 on the development a seed coating technology with the combination of two biostimulants applied as a coating blend. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?Results were disseminated in several talks and posters presented at US conferences, and discussions were made with the US biostimulant and seed treatment industries. A refereed journal article was published in 2019. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?
Nothing Reported
Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals?
The first year of the project was focused on developing a seed coating containing vermicompost for management of selected soil-borne pathogens. Though there were some initial positive results, the protective effect could not be reproduced in later tests, and vermicompost was found to enhance mold growth in germination tests. However, despite the inconsistent results, the vermicompost seed treatment enhanced seedling growth when applied in combination with a chemical fungicide seed treatment. The direction of the research was then focused on vermicompost acting as a biostimulant. A novel delivery method for the application of bio-based biostimulants as seed coatings was then developed using different sources of liquid and powder forms of vermicompost and soy flour. Micronized vermicompost (MVC) and soy flour (SF) were mixed in different combinations as dry seed coating blends and applied using rotary pan seed coating equipment. The physical properties of coated seeds were measured, and as binder concentration increased, coating strength increased. The rates and percentages of germination of the newly developed coating formulations of SF+MVC did not decrease the germination parameters and were not significantly different than the control. However, the SF, SF with concentrated vermicompost extract, and SF + MVC from dairy manure increased the seedling vigor index by 24, 30, and 39 percent, respectively, compared to the control. Plant biometric parameters and nitrogen uptake per plant were also significantly higher for SF and SF+MVC coated seeds than the control, in a greenhouse environment. This is the first seed coating study to show an enhancement of plant growth with vermicompost, and vermicompost in combination with a plant-based protein that serves as a dry seed coating binder and biostimulant, respectively. Seed coatings developed in this study can serve as a model for development of the delivery systems of seeds for the application of bio-based biostimulants to enhance early plant growth.
Publications
- Type:
Journal Articles
Status:
Published
Year Published:
2019
Citation:
Amirkhani, M.; Mayton, H.S.; Netravali, A.N.; Taylor, A.G. A Seed Coating Delivery System for Bio-Based Biostimulants to Enhance Plant Growth. Sustainability 2019, 11, 5304. https://doi.org/10.3390/su11195304
- Type:
Conference Papers and Presentations
Status:
Published
Year Published:
2019
Citation:
Masoume Amirkhani, Hilary Mayton, Anil Netravali and Alan Taylor. 2019. Seed Coating Delivery System for Vermicompost and Soy Flour: Biostimulants to Enhance Plant Growth. ASHS Annual Conference, Seed and Stand Establishment Session. 21-25 July-2019. Las Vegas, Nevada.
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Progress 10/01/17 to 09/30/18
Outputs
Target Audience:The target audiences are companies that produce vermicompost and biostimulants, and the larger US seed industry. Changes/Problems:
Nothing Reported
What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?A Post-Doc working on the project attended a conference and presented a poster on her work investigating vermicompost as a biostimulant, seed coating. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?Results have been disseminated in a poster presented at a US conference, and discussions with the US seed treatment industry. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?Seeds will be coated with vermicompost from two sources and a concentrated vermicompost liquid extract. In addition, chemical seed treatments (mefenoxam and fludioxonil) and several commercial pesticides (Bacillus amyloliquifaciens, a mixtureof three Trichoderma species, phosphite + monopotassium phosphate and a biocontrol mixture of 5 biocontrol agents) will be compared with the vermicompost treatments. A soil bioassay will be developed that uses a naturally infested field soil as a component of the media. Soils from five sites in New York will be used in preliminary trials. Soil-borne pathogens (Pythium, Fusarium and Rhizoctonia) will be characterized from infected seedlings. Further determination of the pathogen species will be examined that are responsible for seedling damping-off. The seed treatments will be tested in the lab infested soil bioassay and in replicated field studies.
Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals?
Micronized vermicompost (MVC) that had been stored under refrigeration and soy flour (SF) were both finely ground materials to pass through a 200 mesh sieve, and used for seed coating of radish and broccoli. MVC served as the filler and SF was the dry binder in a seed coating blend, so only water was applied to the coating blend to produce encrusted seed coatings. An inert filler (diatomaceous earth) and binder (xanthan gum) were included to test different combinations of filler and binder. Coated seeds were tested in a germinator at alternating 20/30° C with an 8-hour photoperiod. Germination, total shoot and root length, and seedling weight were recorded.The seedling vigor index (SVI) was calculated as the product of the percent germination and total seedling length. No or little differences were recorded from all coated treatments ongermination percent, rate and uniformity compared with the non-coated seeds.Individually, MVC and SF enhanced seedling growth, while the combination of both had the greatest SVI. Collectively, both MVC and SF were biostimulants and their use in combination provided a synergy in growth promotion. Two commercial vermicompost samples were obtained in 2018, dried and ground with a pin mill into fine powders.These ground materials were then sized and particles less than 72 microns (pass through 200 mesh sieve) were retained and will be used for seed coating. In addition, a commercial liquid extract vermicompost was developed by industry and the liquid is low viscosity.The liquid which is mostly water and can be sprayed directly onto seeds during seed coating.
Publications
- Type:
Conference Papers and Presentations
Status:
Published
Year Published:
2018
Citation:
Amirkhani, M., Mayton, H. S., Netravali, A.N., and Taylor, A.G. 2018. Biostimulant effect of vermicompost and a plant protein when applied as a seed coating blend. Crops
and Chemicals USA. Raleigh, NC.
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Progress 10/01/16 to 09/30/17
Outputs
Target Audience:The target audiences were the vermicompost companies and the US seed industry. Changes/Problems:
Nothing Reported
What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?A Post Doc summarized all data on vermicompost seed treatments, sweet corn seed investigations and prepared project reports. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?Talk presented to a seed company in the US. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?For application of vermicompost and other organic coating materials an organic binder is needed to adhere the finely ground material to the seed coat to make a durable coating. Preliminary studies used a proprietary binder used for commercial organic seed coating. The advantage is that the material is already available and used commercially. The disadvantage is that the composition of this binder is proprietary so the content is not publically available. Research will be conducted to investigate materials that can serve as organic binders of known composition and include soy flour, xanthan gum, guar gum and sodium alginate. Optimal concentrations and binder properties will be used for application of finely ground, 200 mesh vermicompost to sweet corn, and other crop seeds. Efficacy studies will be conducted in the laboratory using field soil as the inoculum.
Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals?
Organic sweet corn production requires that seed treatments are organically approved as conventional chemical seed treatments may not be used. The first step for successful organic sweet corn production is the selection of seed lots that have potential for good germination when sown under cold, wet coil conditions. Twelve sweet corn seed lots of the sugary enhancer (se) genotype and ten sweet corn seed lots of the shrunken-2 (sh2) genotype were obtained from seed companies. A modified cold test using roll towels was adapted by testing the seeds at 10C for 7 days, followed by 7 days at 25C. The study was performed with a 1:1 field soil and builders sand mixture resulting in a pathogen stress and without soil to provide only a cold temperature stress. A seed lot of 'CuppaJoe' (se) was selected as this lot had good cold tolerance with 99 percent germination but was susceptible to soil pathogens and cold conditions with 67% germination. A seed lot of '274A' (sh2) was also selected with a similar response. One objective is to examine commercially available vermicompost materials to determine their suitability for use as an organic seed treatment for control of soil-borne pathogens that cause damping-off. Eleven (11) vermicompost suppliers were selected from those listed by the Organic Materials Research Institute (OMRI). Samples were submitted to Cornell University's Nutrient Analysis Laboratory (CNAL) for complete nutrient analyses. Samples with extreme pH values (<5 or >8) were excluded as well as samples with aluminum levels >7 ppm. Based on these criteria, seven materials were excluded from further consideration for a seed coating.
Publications
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Progress 10/01/15 to 09/30/16
Outputs
Target Audience:
Nothing Reported
Changes/Problems:
Nothing Reported
What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?
Nothing Reported
How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?Dr. Alan Taylor, the Co-Pi presented a talk to the Atlantic region, seed industry on this project. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?With the positive results for disease suppression demonstrated by seed treatments with the Worm Power (Avon, NY) product, additional products with over 95% vermicompost content have been selected for investigation as seed coating candidates. As the seed coating is the bridge environment between the seed coat and the soil, it is the first to provide external nutrition to the germinating seed. Soil based nutritional analyses will be done for 10 additional vermicompost products and then selection of candidate vermicomposts, based on these nutritional analyses, for seed coating and germination trials using a naturally pathogen infested soil. In parallel with these germination trials, candidate vermicompost products will be evaluated for microbial diversity using high throughput sequencing. High throughput sequencing has been recognized as a powerful tool to study fungal communities in soil as well as the bacterial population dynamics during the cow manure composting process. Germination test results will indicate candidates associated with obvious enhanced germination and seedling growth, while sequencing analysis is expected to identify microbial species common across the candidates associated with these positive effects. Statistical analysis will indicate nutritional components and concentrations associated with enhanced germination and seedling growth. In addition to the germination trials and sequencing analysis, filtered extracts and dilute suspensions of the candidate vermicomposts will be tested using plate assays for inhibition of soil microbes, including known plant damping-off pathogens; inhibition of soil microbes will indicate the potential for disease suppression, while assays with pathogen isolates will identify susceptible pathogens and quantify suppressive response. Taken together, this multi-faceted strategy should identify vermicompost properties and components critical to enhanced seed germination and seedling growth and common to disease suppressive activity.
Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals?
Our main objective (consistent with Obj 3 of the W3168 multi-state project) is to enhance seed vigor and germination in agronomic and other species for improved stand establishment. Seed coating technologies are used for seed treatment application and to enhance plant performance and have broad application in agriculture. Specific sub-objectives will be to: 1) Develop seed coating technologies for application of liquid VE (vermicompost extract) and solid particulate vermicompost formulations, and 2) Assess disease suppressive activity of vermicompost seed coatings in different pathosystems. During this first reporting period, experiments were established to evaluate various formulations of micronized vermicomposted dairy manure as seed coatings to suppress a range of seed-infecting pathogens of several vegetable crops. The vermicompost was provided by a small-business in Avon, New York, called WormPower. Experiments were designed to evaluate different vermicompost carriers and binders, different vermicompost particle sizes, different vermicompost coating rates, different temperature regimes, and different host cultivars for their capacity to increase seed germination and seedling growth in the presence of important seed-infecting pathogens. The following hosts (test pathogens in parentheses) were used to evaluate the various seed coatings: cucumber (Pythium aphanidermatum, Phytophthora capsici), tomato (P. aphanidermatum, P. capsici, Alternaria alternata), cabbage (P. aphanidermatum), pepper (P. aphanidermatum), and corn (P. aphanidermatum, Pythium ultimum, Gibberella zeae). Special emphasis was placed on Pythium species as these are among the most destructive pathogens of nearly all vegetable crops. Seeds treated with the various vermicompost formulations were either not inoculated or inoculated with the respective pathogen at the time of sowing. Emerging seedlings were monitored over a 7-10 day period and both seedling stands and seedling dry weights were measured at the end of that period. Seedling emergence and dry weights from pathogen-inoculated seeds were compared with those from non-inoculated seeds. In some experiments, comparisons were made with conventional fungicide and biological seed treatments. Vermicompost seed coatings were generally quite effective in improving cucumber and tomato seedling emergence and growth in the presence of Pythium aphanidermatum and on tomato seedling emergence and growth in the presence of Phytophthora capsici. Additionally, vermicompost seed coatings were effective in improving sweet corn emergence and growth in the presence of P. aphanidermatum, P. ultimum, and Gibberella zeae under variable temperature regimes known to greatly increase pathogen pressure. In some cases, the level of improvement in seedling emergence and growth was as good as conventional chemical or biological seed treatments. No definitive results were obtained with any of the pathogens on cabbage or pepper and no vermicompost treatment effects could be seen in the presence of Alternaria alternata on tomato. The liquid vermicompost extracts were not effective to suppress any pathogen tested. The results described in this report are the first to demonstrate the effectiveness of compost seed coatings in suppressing seed and seedling diseases of any crop. Not only have our results demonstrated the efficacy of micronized vermicompost seed coatings in improving seedling emergence and growth under stressful conditions, especially under conditions of high pathogen pressure across a number of pathogens, but they also further emphasize the powerful levels of seed protection with very small quantities of disease suppressive organic materials. In the presence of these pathogens known to greatly limit seedling stand establishment, it is possible that extremely high application rates of organic amendments would no longer be needed to achieve significant levels of disease suppression with accompanying improvements in seedling emergence and stand. Instead, only minute quantities of such materials targeted to the surrounding seed environment will be needed. This represents a great advance in the agricultural application of not only organic amendments but also the deployment of biological strategies for disease control that will serve not only organic agriculture but conventional agriculture as well.
Publications
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