ADvanced SOILs for the agritech R&D

Introduction

AdSoils project aims to evaluate, validate, and develop artificial advanced soil technology for its commercial exploitation as a tool for screening crops from belowground.

Background

As part of the Farm to Fork strategy, the European Commission aims at reduced “nutrient losses of at least 50% by 2030, while ensuring no deterioration in soil fertility. This is expected to lead to a reduction in fertiliser use of at least 20%.”

The breeding and agrochemical sectors are now seeking ways for crops to acquire water and nutrients more efficiently. This includes supplying seeds, compounds, and inoculum that reduce soil contamination and make crops more resilient to climate change.

Assessing the effectiveness of such strategies is a major bottleneck because current screening technologies are destructive, costly, and time-consuming.

Technology Development

Within the ERC consolidator grant 647857 “SENSOILs”, an artificial soil that becomes transparent during watering has been successfully developed. This technology, suited for small-scale laboratory research, has shown great potential, enabling the discovery of new forms of mobility by soil bacteria and mapping root-induced chemical gradients at microscale resolution.

Project Objectives

AdSoils project proposes to move a step further and to demonstrate that the AdSoils solution can be fabricated and applied in commercial screens for the discovery of agrochemicals and genomic regions involved in water and nutrient use efficiency.

The project will:

1. Identify cost-effective fabrication routes enabling a close mimic of natural soils.
2. Produce a sufficient volume to validate the soil prototype with industrial end-users.