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GreenSTEM Technology uses native microbes to improve crop stress tolerance, and for cleaning up liquid fuel and pesticide spills.

Date

2020-03-10

Authors

Boubakir, Zakia
Cavanaugh, Michael
Kaminskyj, Susan

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Abstract

Chemical and physical (abiotic) factors can cause stress to all organisms in an affected environment. Here, we focus on plants, since as producers (animals are consumers) plants form the base of food webs. Plants evolved in the ocean. By 600 million years ago (mya), they had formed metabolic partnerships (symbioses) with fungi. Plants invaded land about 450 mya. Fossil evidence from then shows that early land plants were already colonized by septate endophyte fungi (SEF). These form symbioses (metabolic partnerships) with many types of food and feed plant. Arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) are obligate symbionts that must form a symbiosis with a living root, so they are expensive to use commercially. SEF can be grown in culture, and then used to colonize plants as needed. GreenSTEM uses select SEF strains to confer plant tolerance to abiotic stress. As well as stress resistance, many of our SEF strains increase 1) germination rate and percentage of seeds that germinate, 2) seedling establishment, 3) water use efficiency and drought resistance, and 4) yield. 5) Some SEF also reduce need for fertilizer. 6) All of our SEF strains are native, and vegan. None of them use GMO. There will never be more land or fewer people than today. Globally, technology has increased our population by 1400x since the beginning of the industrial age. This means from 5.6-Million in 1600 to 7800-Million in 2020. Our average life span and standard of living have also increased. Nevertheless, in January 2020, more than a Billion people had to survive on less than US$ 2/day. One of GreenSTEM’s core missions is to improve human lives by increasing food safety and security. The other is to use our technology to restore and sustain the land.

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Arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF), GreenSTEM, septate endophyte fungi (SEF), food safety, sustain the land

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Soils and Crops Workshop

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