When the subject of beneficial herbs comes up, some people might think of supplements that improve their well-being. But what if fermented herbs can enhance the health of plants?
Brock University chemists Dustin Duncan and Vaughn Mangal have teamed up with Wandler Probiotics to test a fermented herb blend the biotechnology company developed to boost plant growth and food production while preventing crop infection.
“The idea of partnering with Wandler Probiotics is to see if their product could replace conventional synthetic fertilizers with a natural method of supplying nutrients to plants growing in greenhouse environments,” says Mangal, Associate Professor of Chemistry.
The research partnership was facilitated through the Greenhouse Technology Network, which was funded by the Government of Canada through the Federal Economic Development Agency for Southern Ontario (FedDev Ontario).
The Mississauga-based company manufactures liquid probiotics formulas of live lactic acid bacteria. The lactic acid fermentation is fortified with herbs, which indirectly aid the fermentation by providing nitrogen and other trace minerals to the bacteria.
Lactic acid bacteria are microorganisms, also known as probiotics, that convert carbohydrates into fatty acids, vitamins and other substances during the process of fermentation.
When introduced into soil, lactic acid bacteria metabolites — small molecules created by chemical reactions during the fermentation process — promote plant growth.
One of the main ways they do this is by decomposing the soil and releasing carbohydrates, nitrogen, potassium and other nutrients for use by plants.
Wandler Probiotics takes its lactic acid bacteria one step further by “fortifying them with different herbal cocktails, the principle being that the fermentation process unlocks the active ingredients in the herbs, improving these ingredients’ bioavailability,” says CEO Lars Wandler.
“The herbs ferment quite happily. Nobody needs to convince me how wonderful the herb blends are, but the marketplace is a little different — they understandably like to see some proof,” he says.
“When Wandler Probiotics approached us, I was very interested in learning about the molecules in these mixtures that help the plant grow, since a lot of my background is in small molecule and microbial interactions,” says Duncan, Assistant Professor of Chemistry.
To test the effectiveness of the company’s herbal blend, Duncan, Mangal and their research team grew spinach plants in soil infused with the probiotic fermented herbs and monitored the plants’ growth at different points during the year-long experiments.
The team — which includes undergraduate Chemistry students Isabelle Mowbray, Morgan Buchan, Carolina Bedoya and Shae-Lynn Owens and master’s student Reem Mahamoud — is still analyzing the results of the experiments and testing the nutritional content of the spinach plants.
Early results indicate spinach plants grown in the herb-infused soil had taller stalks, a greater number of leaves and a better shoot-to-root ratio than spinach grown in soil without the herbs, says Mangal.
The shoot-to-root ratio compares the weight of a plant’s roots to the leaves, stems and other material appearing above the soil. It’s an important measure of a plant’s effectiveness in absorbing water and nutrients through the roots and capturing capture light for photosynthesis through the shoots.
For his part, Wandler says interactions with Brock researchers were highly positive.
“They understood where I wanted to go with this, to determine if the use of a constellation of microbial strains fortified with healthy plants during the probiotic fermentation can achieve measurable improvements in plant health and growth,” he says.
Chris Bittle, Member of Parliament for St. Catharines, says the project, “Evaluation of microbial fermentation compositions to support growth of greenhouse crops,” addresses many different concerns.
“Fertilizers based on processes found in nature can cut down on the use of artificial chemicals that harm the environment and human health,” he says. “The Brock-Wandler research also points to natural fertilizers’ potential for higher agricultural yields, further advancing Niagara’s economic growth.”
Source : BROCKU