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Smart Sprays and Cold Plasma to Optimise Crop Productivity
Published with permission from Murdoch University
Two Murdoch University research projects have received investment from the Grains Research and Development Corporation (GRDC) to improve profitability and sustainability for Australian grain growers.
Associate Professor Kirsty Bayliss, Dr Uys Lourens and Professor Daniel Murphy
The projects include the development of novel biodegradable smart sprays for broadacre cropping, and treating wheat and canola with cold plasma for enhanced plant growth, vigour and yield.
The smart sprays project is a three-year, $8.1 million investment led by Murdoch University. It aims to develop and test two new biopolymer products: a soil spray to facilitate water harvesting, and a sticky spray for foliar (leaf) application.
Across production environments, only 20 – 40 percent of rainfall is typically transpired by dryland crops, with up to 60 percent of rainfall lost to evaporation, and 5 – 20 percent lost in runoff and deep drainage.
Professor Daniel Murphy, Director of the CSIRO Murdoch Bioplastic Innovation Hub, said the soil spray would facilitate rainfall runoff into the furrow and reduce soil evaporation, increasing the water available for transpiration and plant water use efficiency.
“The sticky spray would be applied to crops to potentially deliver chemicals, nutrients or antifreeze proteins from bacteria,” Dr Murphy said.
Antifreeze proteins protect against potential crop damage due to frost and provide growers with an opportunity for in-season management of frost events.
GRDC Manager Sustainable Cropping Systems Dr Uys Lourens said these different approaches to smart spray production will diversify GRDC investment in this area, and offers growers different potential price points, scalability and effectiveness.
The second project is a three-year, $5.1 million project led by Murdoch University with partners the Department of Primary Industries and Regional Development (DPIRD) in WA, the South Australian Research and Development Institute (SARDI), a division of Primary Industries and Regions South Australia, and Neymyrup Economics.
It aims to investigate and quantify the agronomic and economic value of applying cold plasma or plasma activated water to wheat and canola seeds and plants.
Cold plasma is formed through the ionisation of a gas (including air) using an electric current, radio frequency or microwave energy. It can be fed through water to create plasma activated water, enabling liquid application.
The use of cold plasma technology in crop production offers a sustainable technology for seed treatment and application during plant growth which could improve grain yield.
Associate Professor Kirsty Bayliss, from Murdoch University’s Harry Butler Institute, said previous research has shown great promise at increasing the rate of germination.
“We will now also be testing plasma activated water to increase nutrients and manage disease levels,” Associate Professor Bayliss said.
“We are excited to test this technology at a large scale in field trials across Australia.”
GRDC Manager Sustainable Cropping Systems Dr Uys Lourens said the two projects signalled an appetite from GRDC for innovative, exploratory research to reach new frontiers for Australian grain growers.
“These new projects aim to develop and trial novel treatments to optimise productivity of crops, and if successful, lead to commercial application pathways for these technologies in broadacre agriculture,” Dr Lourens said.
“This investment will trial and evaluate the application of cold plasma and plasma activated water to both canola and wheat seeds and developing plants.”
“Through rigorous economic analysis, it aims to provide a definitive answer as to whether this technology should be implemented by growers. This includes a potential adoption pathway if implementation is economically sound.”
The research projects conclude in 2028, whereby results and recommendations will be available to growers.
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Trace minerals are required for optimal growth, reproduction, and immunity. Optimising trace mineral status relying solely on oral supplements across a herd may fail because of variation in individual intake and reduced absorption due to antagonism of other ration components and minerals. The use of injectable trace mineral supplements has been associated with positive reproductive outcomes including improved conception rate, increased odds of pregnancy and greater final in calf rate. A study conducted on 2,168 dairy cows, administered injectable trace minerals, four weeks prior to calving and again four weeks prior to the start of mating showed treated animals had a 3.3 per cent greater final in-calf rate, and a reduced time from start of mating to conception, compared to control animals 1 . The Importance of B12 Dr Carl Eden, Technical Services Veterinarian with Boehringer Ingelheim says “Vitamin B12 is sometimes referred to as a ‘super vitamin’ because it is only required in very small amounts but vital to many essential metabolic pathways. However, demand for B12 can vary considerably during the year and we see serum levels of B12 fall at critical times, such as the first few months after calving.” Vitamin B12 contains cobalt, so deficiency in cobalt can lead to deficiency in vitamin B12 because ruminants get most of their B12 as a byproduct of ruminal fermentation where the bacteria in their rumen assemble B12 from cobalt for use by the cow. Sub-optimal trace mineral and vitamin B12 status at calving, mating, and drying off has been shown to negatively impact growth, reproduction, and immunity. Using a trace mineral injectable containing vitamin B12 can improve trace mineral and vitamin B12 status at these critical times. Marks-Min with Vitamin B12 – The Evidence In the largest trace element study to date, Marks-Min Injectable Trace Mineral with Vitamin B12 demonstrated remarkable results when compared to a reference trace mineral injection. “Given the differences between Marks-Min and other products on the market, we wanted to generate a compelling data set to demonstrate how effective it was compared to the pioneer product. We entrusted this work to a third-party research company” says Dr Eden. “We chose farms that were at the top of their game from a reproductive perspective. We made sure that the farms had no evidence of trace element or vitamin B12 deficiencies or excess.” Across all outcomes of interest, Marks-Min demonstrated clear non-inferiority when compared to the reference product. Outcomes measured included submission, pregnancy and conception rates, and six week in-calf rate. Marks-Min demonstrated it is highly suited as an alternative treatment to the reference product. Reference: 1. Hawkins, D., and B. V. S. Franklin. New Zealand Dairy Veterinarians Newsletter 24 (2007): 12-16 Company website: livestockfirst.com.au Company email address: CustomerCare.Australia@boehringer-ingelheim.com Company video: https://vimeo.com/1138807630?fl=pl&fe=cm
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