 Nature's approach to crop
management
Germain’s Technology Group
A novel approach
The conditions of
controlled moisture and temperature to which seed are subjected
during priming
(a widely used
commercial technique to promote germination speed and
uniformity) provide
bacteria with a potentially ideal environment for successful
inoculation. This allows the bacteria a period of colonisation
and acclimatisation to the seed surface prior to subsequent seed
treatment processes.
 This technique has now been used successfully
to apply a range of pseudomonad strains of known beneficial
pedigree to seed of onion, carrot and sugar beet.
In all cases, survival of these bacteria has
been demonstrated at agronomically acceptable levels for at
least four months under ambient storage conditions and after
subsequent commercial pelleting or filmcoating with the standard
rate of pesticides.
 Similar results have been obtained for
priming inoculations using spores of the fungal species
Trichoderma and Clonostachys.
The microbial inoculation of seed
using established priming processes already used to
physiologically enhance seed germination is both economically
and agronomically attractive. Priming inoculation offers
enormous potential for the delivery of beneficial microorganisms
as biological seed treatments to augment existing disease
management strategies and enhance crop performance. |
