InnovPlantProtect (InPP) recently received approval for an application submitted to COMPETE2030-2024-6 - Collective Actions - Transfer of scientific and technological knowledge - BioLivingLABS - Bioeconomy at the service of the sustainability of inland territories, led by MORE CoLAB - Laboratório Colaborativo Montanhas de Investigação, Associação, in partnership with the Polytechnic Institute of Bragança (IPB), the Polytechnic Institute of Castelo Branco (IPCB) and AQUAVALOR.
BioLivingLABS aims to promote the economic valorization of research and development (R&D) results obtained by various institutions in the North, Center and Alentejo. To this end, it will create an experimental demonstration network, the so-called Living Labs, The project will be held in the innovation hubs of Mirandela, Douro, Covilhã and Elvas. In addition, demonstration actions, workshops, an inland innovation catalog and training on intellectual property protection will be developed with the aim of encouraging the incorporation of innovative solutions in the business sectors of these regions.
Scheduled to begin in October and lasting 24 months, the project has a total eligible investment of over 740,000 euros, financed by COMPETE2030 - Thematic Program for Innovation and Digital Transition. For InPP, this project is a strategic opportunity to strengthen its mission as a center for technology development and transfer, boosting the practical application of scientific knowledge to promote sustainable development.
This initiative confirms InPP's commitment to open and sustainable innovation, integrating science, technology and regional development to respond to the challenges and potential of the interior of the country.
On September 18, the executive director of InnovPlantProtect (InPP), António Saraiva, the director of the New Biopesticides Department, Cristina Azevedo, and researcher Luís Grilo attended the Open Day “The Cereals of Baixo Mondego”, promoted by the Centro Regional Coordination and Development Commission (CCDR Centro), at the Bico da Barca Experimental Unit in Montemor-o-Velho.
The event highlighted the latest innovations from the Coimbra Innovation Hub, from new technologies applied to maize and rice, to fertilization strategies, protection and the use of biostimulants on these key crops in the Baixo Mondego region.
Our team also monitored trials with biofungicides, including the product I21, developed with our collaborative laboratory to combat pyriculariosis in two rice varieties, which is being patented.
In an interview with Voice of the Countryside, Cristina Azevedo shared the work we have been doing in the area of biosolutions.
Maize continues to be the Portugal's most important arable crop, The sector has a significant impact on food safety and the national agri-food industry. Involving thousands of producers and generating tens of millions of euros a year, the sector is currently facing increasingly complex phytosanitary challenges.
Among already known pests and emerging diseases, there are risks ranging from cartridge caterpillar until Maize Rugose Dwarfism Virus (MRDV), The presence of this virus is increasing in Portugal. This virus, transmitted by the corn leafhopper, can seriously compromise production and is found in the climate change increasingly favorable conditions for its spread.
However, it's not just MRDV that's worrying. There are new threats that require vigilance, such as the coleopter Diabrotica virgifera or the MDMV virus (Maize Dwarf Mosaic Virus), already detected in neighboring countries, and also toxic weeds, such as the winter fig (Datura stramonium), which in addition to impacting productivity pose public health risks.
Faced with this reality, the answer is integrated and sustainable strategies, matching:
crop rotation and good agricultural practices;
careful use of insecticides to avoid resistance and environmental impacts;
resistant or tolerant varieties, where available;
research and technological innovation, including new digital tools for early detection.
As the InnovPlantProtect researcher points out, Nuno Faria, in the article entitled “The main emerging pests and diseases of the maize crop in Portugal”, available in the August edition of Voz do Campo magazine: “The phytosanitary panorama of maize in Portugal requires continuous vigilance, investment in research and the application of integrated and sustainable strategies capable of responding to an increasingly dynamic and unpredictable reality.”
To find out more about the main current risks and mitigation measures, read the full article published in the August issue of Voz do Campo magazine (pages 88-89), available on newsstands and online.
Elvas collaborative laboratory distinguished by Rural Life as “the most significant investment in the last year in the agricultural and agro-industrial sector”.
“Investment that makes a mark” 2021 is the name of the prize awarded today to InnovPlantProtect by Rural Life. The award, conferred by the editorial board of the professional agribusiness magazine, recognizes the most significant investment in the last year in the agricultural and agro-industrial sector at a national level.
The choice of the collaborative laboratory (CoLab), based in Elvas, “aims to reinforce the importance of investing in research and innovation in a key area for the future of agriculture: the search for biologically-based solutions for crop protection, in a challenging context, in which it is necessary to ensure the production of food in an increasingly sustainable way,” explains Isabel Martins, director of the company. Rural Life and publications coordinator at IFE.
One of the laboratories in the current, temporary premises.
Field work on a property owned by Fertiprado.
This award “honors the initiative of the 12 founding partners to create an innovative institution to develop biological and digital solutions for crop protection,” says Pedro Fevereiro, the CoLab's executive director, adding: “It's an incentive for InnovPlantProtect, which set up in a low-density region and managed to attract 38 highly qualified human resources to set up a modern innovation unit. It also rewards the vision of the municipality of Elvas, which embraced this challenge from the outset.”
The “Investment that Makes a Mark” 2021 award was presented during the 8th edition of the AgroIn - Annual Agribusiness Congress, organized by Rural Life/ IFE, held in the auditorium of the Faculty of Dental Medicine of the University of Lisbon.
Pedro Fevereiro, executive director of InnovPlantProtect
The InPP team, like scientists around the world, concludes that new techniques can mitigate the challenges posed by climate change and the continuing increase in the world's population.
We know that in order to feed the world's population in 2050, we will have to increase food production by 70% [1]. And we also know that agriculture is under intense pressure to meet the sustainability goals of the European Green Deal and Farm to Fork Strategy, This is under pressure from climate change and the increase in pests and diseases attacking crops.
A team from InnovPlantProtect (InPP) reviewed hundreds of scientific articles published in recent years and concluded that “genome editing is an important tool for improving food security in a sustainable way and mitigating the challenges posed by global climate change and the expansion of the world's population”. The review article [2], entitled Genome editing for resistance against plant pests and pathogens, has just been published in Transgenic Research.
“The development of new tools to improve plant protection is critical in the context of current agricultural, environmental and ecological challenges,” say the researchers, adding that “various efforts in the area of genome editing have resulted in plants with potentially beneficial characteristics that can be quickly and easily applied in the field.”.
Crops are invariably exposed to pests and diseases (left). In order to speed up the plant breeding process, genome editing technologies such as CRISPR-Cas make it possible to introduce resistance mechanisms or remove susceptibility quickly and precisely (right).
The team analyzed the latest advances in genome editing with a view to improving plant protection, focusing on editing the genomes of crops, pests and pathogens based on the CRISPR-Cas technique (Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 2020). The researchers did not forget other technologies, such as host-induced gene silencing (HIGS) and the use of biocontrol agents, discussing how CRISPR-Cas can be used to accelerate the development of ecological strategies that promote sustainable agriculture in the future.
[HIGS consists of the plant producing small molecules of RNA (ribonucleic acid), which lead to the silencing of the pathogen's genes; silencing a gene means “canceling” its expression].
As genome editing does not require crossbreeding, the authors of the article point out, it avoids the introduction of unwanted characteristics through genetic linkage (a situation in which a gene with a positive characteristic is physically linked to a gene that confers negative characteristics) in improved varieties, speeding up the entire breeding process.
In addition, genome editing technologies can directly target the susceptibility genes or virulence factors of pests and pathogens, either by directly editing the genome of the pest in question, or by adding genome editing mechanisms to the plant genome, or to microorganisms that act as biocontrol agents.
Several studies have shown that the targeted inactivation of susceptibility genes through genome editing is a solid strategy for crop protection, capable of producing non-transgenic plants. The technique has been shown to be particularly effective in editing susceptibility genes to pathogenic bacteria and fungi.
“The potential impact of genome editing, and CRISPR technology in particular, on plant synthetic biology to improve resistance to pests and diseases is enormous and will have a direct effect on agricultural sustainability on a scale never seen before,” the team concludes.
Original article:
Rato, C., Carvalho, M.F., Azevedo, C. & Oblessuc, Paula. Genome editing for resistance against plant pests and pathogens. Transgenic Research (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11248-021-00262-x
Elvas City Council promotes a visit to the works in progress at InnovPlantProtect and at the Elvense pole of the National Institute for Agrarian and Veterinary Research.
The work in progress at INIAV Elvas, including those that will accommodate the permanent facilities of the InnovPlantProtect (InPP), were visited yesterday, June 16, by a delegation that included the president of the Elvas City Council, Nuno Mocinha, the vice-president of the municipality, Cláudio Carapuça, as well as a number of council technicians, the presidents of parish councils in the municipality and representatives of the media.
InPP is an institution that wants to last for many, many years, not a “one-off project”, said the executive director of the collaborative laboratory (CoLab). Pedro February He also highlighted the fact that the research and innovation carried out here “leaves” the laboratory for the field, in the form of specific, biologically-based products and services supplied to companies, farmers and producers, among others.
Nuno Mocinha stressed the CoLab's great importance for agriculture and the region, particularly thanks to the establishment of highly qualified workers dedicated to science and technology applied in the field.
The visit took place as part of a tour promoted by the CME of some of the works underway in the municipality.
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