Plant growth and development can be limited by climatic factors and reduced when water, light and/or temperature conditions are unfavourable. One of the abiotic stresses that most limits plant growth is water stress, which can be due to both an excess or a lack of water, or even an abundance of transpiration. The organism's water balance is affected and, depending on the severity of the situation and the degree of resistance of the crop to water shortage, its physiology (growth, reproduction, flowering, fruit set, etc.) is compromised to a greater or lesser extent, ultimately affecting the crop's yield.
Agriculture uses around 70% of water resources and will therefore be the main sector affected by a decrease in water availability, leading the relevant authorities to limit the use of water for this purpose. Therefore, it is imminent to look for alternatives to avoid such a reduction in crop yields due to lack of water and to improve the optimisation of existing resources.
The rhizospheric microbiome plays a very important role in plant development, with various strategies that help plants to cope with abiotic drought stress. Under water stress conditions the protective effect of the microbiome is to reduce the production of ethylene, which is mainly recognised as a key regulator in the response of plants to biotic or abiotic stress. There are PGPR (plant growth-promoting rhizobacteria) microorganisms that help plants to reduce ethylene concentrations through the action of ACC deaminase, which breaks down the compound 1-aminocyclopropane-1-carboxylic acid (ACC), the precursor responsible for ethylene formation (Figure 1).
Due to the different meteorological conditions and the continuous episodes of drought, the Andevalo Guadiana irrigation community had a water resource per year of 3,400 m3/ha of water available for citrus plots in the municipality of San Silvestre de Guzman (Huelva). This means 40% less water supply compared to the 2021-2022 campaign, where there was an availability of 5,700 m3 /ha/year.
This lack of water is reflected in the drop in yield, obtaining 18,307 kg/ha (2022-2023 campaign), equivalent to 71.2% less than in the previous campaign in these plots.
The strategy BIOAdapta®️ at 4 stages of the crop mitigates the hydric stress, achieving a 54.53% increase in yield compared to control plots, which means 9,983.3 kg more per hectare of oranges.
The application of BIOAdapta®️ brings in a profit of 13,095 €/Ha compared to the control plot under conditions of reduced water input in the crop.
TRICHODEX®️ Grupo Fertiberia, aware of the difficulties faced by the sector, is developing new technologies to restore the plant microbiome and thus mitigate the effects of different types of abiotic stress.
The BIOAdapta® strategy achieves the following:
- 54.5% INCREASE IN PRODUCTION UNDER WATER STRESS CONDITIONS (-40% WATER) IN CITRUS FRUITS
- 13,000 €/ha profit. High returns for farmers
