Making More Wheat From Less

Researchers at the Universität Hohenheim in Germany led by Professor Nicolaus von Wirén have found a way to lessen the use of chemical fertilizers but still produce good yield and better crops. The project "Rhizobacter for reduced fertilizer inputs in wheat" (RHIBAC) under "Food quality and safety" thematic area of the EU's Sixth Framework Program has demonstrated that rhizobacterial inoculation of crops could replace as much as 50 kgs of nitrogen fertilizer per hectare needed in wheat production.

The plant growth-promoting rhizobacter (PGPR) have been studied and tested for the last 30 years, but it generated very low success rates and reproducibility. Current research was on an in-depth understanding of the way these microbes work and how they can best be utilized in modern production systems.

A field trial of four modern wheat varieties was conducted in Wiltshire south-west England with different levels of nitrogen fertilization and four RHIBAC strains incorporated with the seed at sowing. Results showed that all varieties yielded 6% increase in growth in 2 separate trials worth 50 and 100 kgs nitrogen per hectare, when selected rhizobacteria were added to a standard fertilizer regime. The team's findings still need to be validated for a range of conditions and environments before any value on commercial savings could be quantified.

The research article can be viewed at http://cordis.europa.eu/fetch?CALLER=EN_NEWS&ACTION=D&SESSION=&RCN=32190