Section 2:

Vertical transmission of Seed Microbes:

Did you know that in nature, a mother plant places 2 Billion microbes of its root microbiome in the seed for the future generation- so that upon germination the new plant can enjoy the full microbial benefit that the mother plant built up in terms of soil microbial diversity and soil function. Kindly see https://enviromicro-journals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/1751-7915.14322

What happens in nature in terms of vertical seed microbiome transmission:

  • Earthworms visit the roots of plants to feast on healthy soil microbes.
  • Soil Microbial diversity increases with each visit.
  • The mother plants take up the Soil Microbes with its root system and deposit them in a newly formed seed endosperm -with about 2 Billion microbes per seed.
  • The seed drops and resides in the soil seed bank and germinates much later, with a complete consortia of diverse soil microbes.
  • Upon germination the number of soil microbes in the seed increase by 1000% immediately.
Transmission of seed microbiomes across generations: implications for ecosystem function and legacy effects. Seed microbiomes serve as the origin of plant microbiomes, encompassing both endophytic and surface-attached microorganisms. These microbes maintain intimate associations with plants and their ecological functions, which are becoming increasingly evident in terms of plant and ecosystem health. They contribute to seed health, seed germination and overall plant vitality. For instance, seeds contaminated by fungal infections due to fungal spores and high humidity of the environment can result in infection-induced reduction in germination rates. Seed microbiomes not only contribute to the plant microbiome in the roots and phyllosphere but also that in the flowers and fruits, along with significant contribution from soil microbiomes, as demonstrated in processes (1) through (5) in the figure. Crucially, certain plant and soil microbial components are retained and transmitted to seeds, which are then carried over to subsequent plant life cycles. A healthy seed microbiome is also vital for maintaining the functionality of both above- and below-ground ecosystems. This includes promoting plant biomass production, improving food quality and safety, preserving high soil organic matter content, and regulating the abundance of soil pathogens.

Vertical transmission of Seed Microbes:

The plant microbiome is an assembly of microorganisms that live together in and near a plant and interact to form a microbial ecosystem. Microbiomes of all sorts interact closely with the living and non-living parts of their environment.

Diverse microbial communities of characteristic microbiota are part of plant microbiomes, and are found on the outside surfaces and in the internal tissues of the host plant, as well as in the surrounding soil.
After Biologically Priming a Seed, the number of beneficial and Plant Growth Promoting Microbes (both Bacterial and Fungal) increases, assisting the plant in various functions.
Plant Growth Promoting Fungi and Plant Growth Promoting Rhizobacteria in the Microbiome aid plant growth and soil function. Biopriming is the process of enhancing the seed microbiome with a wider diversity of earthworm derived plant beneficial plant growth promoting microbes in order to increase plant performance.

Bio-Priming:

Bio-Priming is a new technique of seed treatment that integrates biological (inoculation of seed with beneficial organism to protect seed) and physiological aspects for disease control and yield increase. https://enviromicro-journals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/1751-7915.14322 . It simulates the visit of earthworms to the mother plant and vertical transmission ofbeneficial soil microbiome organisms to the new generation.

Different types of Seed Coating:

What we do is the first two, with Bio-Prime® and Vermicoat®.

Section 3:

Specific Case Studies:

Canola Microbiome Perspective:

  1. Canola plants have a very specific microbiome and we Bio-Prime® these specific microbes into and unto the seed.
  2. The Canola plant discriminates between different soil microbes and select specific fungi and microbes as Keystone species which act as gateways during plant-soil microbe interactions.

What are the keystone species?

A keystone species is an organism that helps define an entire ecosystem. Without its keystone species, the ecosystem would be dramatically different or cease to exist altogether. Keystone species have low functional redundancy-if they are gone everything collapses.

The two microbes in red would typically qualify as Keystone species as they act as functional gateways linking clusters of microbial bacteria and fungae with each other, enhancing soil function and nutrient uptake. Without they key gateway species the nutritional growth benefits of entire microbial cluster activity would not be plant available. In Canola the plant has selected certain keystone species as the gateway through which it takes up nutrients. If you do not have these vital keystone species in abundance around a seed it retards nutrient uptake.
Mean (n = 12) relative abundances of (A) bacterial taxa based on the 16S ribosomal RNA (rRNA) gene fragments, and (B) fungal taxa based on the internal transcribed spacer (ITS) sequences in the roots and rhizospheres of canola, wheat, and pea. For canola, three different treatments were applied: canola grown as recommended (Can_RE), canola fertilized at 150% of the recommended rate (Can_HF), and canola seeded at 150% of the recommended rate (Can_HD).

https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/microbiology/articles/10.3389/fmicb.2018.01188/full

This is what the Canola fungal Microbiome looks like.
Fungal diversity in Canola Microbiome. These are the Fungae you must have for optimum nutrient uptake. It is these same fungae which herbicide, pesticide and fungicide destroy.

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/353303077_Inter-Kingdom_Networks_of_Canola_Microbiome_Reveal_Bradyrhizobium_as_Keystone_Species_and_Underline_the_Importance_of_Bulk_Soil_in_Microbial_Studies_to_Enhance_Canola_Production/link/60f22e7516f9f313008bcf26/download

Canola Bacterial Microbiome required for optimum nutrient uptake. If you do not have the entire keystone species cluster with the sub-clusters then Canola yield will suffer,
Canola Microbiome bacteria at different depths. You need them all at the correct depth.

What does Bio-Prime® and Vermicoat® do to these Canola Fungal and Microbial Clusters?

  1. It ensures you have the keystone species (diversity) on all seeds in enough quantity.
  2. The keystone species act as your nutrient gateways.
  3. It builds out these clusters around the nutrient gateway keystone species so that more microbes feed more plant available nutrients to your plants root system.
(A) Network of inter-kingdom interactions between the bacteria and fungi forming the microbiome of canola rhizosphere. Node shades indicate the degree of connectivity: ASVs with warm colors are more connected with the other members of the network than the cold colored ones. Green edges indicate positive relationships and red edges, negative relationships.
(B) Sub-network centered around BASV45. (C) Sub-network centered around BASV134. (D) Sub-network centered around FASV21.
(A) Network of inter-kingdom interactions between the bacteria and fungi forming the microbiome of bulk soil in canola field. Node shades indicate the degree of connectivity: ASVs with warm colors are more connected with the other members of the network than the cold colored ones. Green edges indicate positive relationships and red edges, negative relationships. (B) Sub-network centered around BASV69. (C) Sub-network centered around FASV8. (D) Sub-network centered around FASV114.
Venn diagram of the ASV of the fungal community shared between root, rhizosphere and bulk soil, taking all sites in account
Venn diagram of the ASV of the bacterial community shared between root, rhizosphere and bulk soil, taking all sites in account.

What else does Bio-Prime® and Vermicoat® Do to the Plant Microbiome?:

  1. We use Earthworm microbes from the soil surface, Rhizosphere soil; and bulk soil to build out the soil microbial diversity in each seeds microbiome in the full soil profile.
  2. A single Canola seed in nature has about 2 Billion Microbes, and after germination this increases by up to a 1000%. As the plant roots expand and grow so the microbial population expands with it.
  3. We make sure that we have enough Keystone species diversity and population density to ensure that there are enough nutrient pathways to the root system of the Canola so that maximum nutrient uptake efficiency take place.

Amount of Nutrients required for Canola for 1960 kg per ha:

https://www.canolacouncil.org/canola-encyclopedia/fertility/basic-plant-nutrition/

If you have all the keystone gateway microbes with full microbial activity it is possible to have most efficient nutrient uptake. Plants require a 2:1:1 ratio of nutrients, water and oxygen otherwise there is a rate limitation suppresing yield. Our Bio-Prime® and Vermicoa®t microbes help make these available in the correct ratio so that rate limitations do not take place. If the ratio is not correct then optimum plant growth does not take place -instead it happens at the rate of the lowest limiting factor. A small rate adjustment by a keystone cluster can make all the difference between low growth and higher growth. A key issue is that the soil microbes also make water and oxygen molecules available to the plant as and when required -neither of which are available from the mineral fertilizer industry nor from the pesticide companies.In a growth pinch, oxygen and moisture molecules will take you further than fertilizer or herbicide.
The 500kg to 1000 kg yield gains possible with Bio-Prime® and Vermicoat® flows from the following value chain enhancement:
  1. Keystone microbial species acting as gateways to root nutrient uptake with extensive cluster consortia of Microbes and Fungi.
  2. Root system up to 700 times larger due to expanded fungal and microbial networks.
  3. Biological Trade Network exchanging nutrients between plants.
  4. Biological Nitrogen fixation from Free Living Nitrogen Microbes and Fungi.
  5. Full soil functionality down the entire soil profile.

Why do Commercial Agriculture have such low yield?

  • Very high Herbicide and Pesticide use lead to a decrease in soil microbial diversity, with the size of microbial clusters declining and delinking and the loss of entire keystone taxa.
  • Very high chemical fertilizer use also lead to declining soil microbial diversity -lowering the population density of vital microbes throttling the available nutrient gateways.

Frequently asked questions:

  1. Can Bio-Prime® be used on any seed?
    Yes
  2. Can you do it yourself?
    Yes.
  3. What type of water should be used?
    Borehole or rainwater.
  4. What does Bio-prime® cost?
    Typically R1000 per ha for everything, Bio-Prime and Vermicoat® included. The one does the inside of the seed and the other the outside. You need get and use both.
  5. How long does it take to Bio-Prime® and Vermicoat® about 25 kg of seed?
    Typically 15 to 20 minutes the first time, and when proficient, as short as 5 minutes per ha of seed, depending on seed type. Larger seeds such as Soya are easier than fineseed such as grass seeds, while round seeds like Canola coat very easily.
  6. Can you do it outside?
    Yes, in the shade and not in direct sunlight as UV light is bad for microbes.
  7. What are the most common mistakes?
    Using municipal or chlorinated water which kills all microbes. Mixing seed with lime to calibrate a planter.  Putting seed in direct sun.  Mixing Bio-Primed seed with pesticide or herbicide.
  8. If you Bio-Prime you seeds, can you still use broadleaf herbicide after emergence.
    Yes, but you detract from optimal performance and typically kill 25%+ of your microbial population due to leaves taking up herbicide and leaking it via the roots where it negatively impacts the microbes inside the protective film coating covering the roots.
  9. Should you replace your mineral nitrogen fertilizer with Bio-Prime® Nitrogen microbes fixing 80 N per ha?
    Yes you can. As a general rule of thumb, keep all your other phosphate potash and micro nutrient fertilizer the samem but swop out 100% of your nitrogen fertilizer. From year 2 onwards, depending on soil analysis, you can a portion of your  other fertilizer as per the soil analysis. Better nutrient uptake efficiency will make this possible.
  10. Should the Biological Nitrogen microbes be mixed with mineral fertilizer application?
    No.
  11. Is this a scam?
    We developed this technology for our own seed production industry and based on results expanded availability to friends and family and eventually other industries. It takes 15 years to get 15 years worth of experience as a pioneer, so listen carefully and learn. We treat Millions of Rands worth of seed and know what we are doing, from doing. It is much easier to only know the right way with the right materials than to make all the mistakes that can be made mastering things.
  12. Can we produce the priming and coating technology cheaper ourselves?
    Yes you can, if you only do it and nothing else like farm full-time.
  13. Why do results vary?
    Soil vary, herbicide and fertilizer history vary, application success vary because personel training varies. Sometimes it is the jockey and not the horse.
  14. Can we mix conventional and biological organic farming practises?
    Yes you can, but results will vary.  Using Bio-Prime will counter at least some negative effects of herbicide application and it is better than not doing it.
  15. What risks are there?
    Shelf life of treated seed is shorter so don’t store primed seed for the next season but plant it as soon as possible. 2-4 weeks storage is fine.

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