Biostimulants
Biostimulants are natural products or microbes that promote crop growth and yield. Especially under conditions of stress, biostimulants have most often their strongest effect. The mechanism by which biostimulants promote crop growth is little understood and hence renders it an important and relevant topic in current applied plant biology. By using molecular and cellular research tools, we investigate biostimulant mode of action and aim to purify the bioactive ingredients with the help of chemists at the faculty of bioscience engineering. The goal is to gain a deeper insight into plant growth and development and how it can be influenced to the benefit of crop production.
Bio2Bio
From organic waste streams to biostimulants and biopesticides
BioSUNmulant
Innovative applications from sunflower by-products
Bio4Food
High quality and nutrient rich food through crop waste-derived biostimulants and biopesticides
Hydroponics microbiome
Plant-beneficial bacteria for controlled environment agriculture
Biostimulant academy
Researchers at the Ghent University and HoGent, the University of Tuscia and the Spanish National Research Council (CSIC), AkinAO and Leno consulting – experts in online teaching and AFAIA the French biostimulant sector federation, collaborate in the framework of the Erasmus + project entitled ‘Biostimulant Academy’.
The Biostimulant Academy project aims to develop and implement four comprehensive digital trainings on biostimulants in order to teach different target groups including students, biostimulant producers, technicians and farmers on biostimulants. The idea is to widely disseminate validated scientific skills and knowledge to the broad public. The four digital trainings include:
- introduction to biostimulants,
- microbial biostimulants,
- non-microbial biostimulants and
- biostimulants in the field.
Each training will host 10 modules in 5 different languages (English, French, Spanish, Italian and Dutch). The trainings will be available as podcast, video and leaflets and will be consultable via the www.mygreentrainingbox.com platform as from July 2021. The access is free.
The expected impact of Biostimulant Academy project are the fostering of biostimulant use amongst the agricultural industry, the increase of biostimulants’ stakeholder skills and knowledge, and the promotion of natural products meeting with EU regulations and Common Agricultural Policy objectives to support sustainable agriculture.
The project started in October 2021 and will last 28 months. The Biostimulant Academy is funded by ERASMUS + under Strategic Partnerships for vocational education and training and coordinated by AkiNaO.
For more information please contact maaike.perneel@ugent.be