Discovery of novel natural products with biostimulant and antifungal properties

Natural products represent a vast untapped resource for the discovery of environmentally friendly agrochemicals. The project will use the expertise and resources related to the characterization of plant extracts and a unique phytophthora collection available in the consortium. 

Knowledge-guided improvement of commercial seaweed-based biostimulants against abiotic and biotic stress

Development of dsRNA-based fungicide

Exogenously applied double-stranded RNA (dsRNA) has been shown to protect a wide range of important crops against fungal diseases. Even though no dsRNA-based technologies are currently available on the EU market, a number of products are expected to be commercialized in the coming years. dsRNA-based fungicides can become a viable alternative to synthetic and copper-based fungicides which are the only solutions against fungal diseases available to the farmers at present. The consortium will embark on developing a novel bio fungicide based on dsRNA silencing which falls under the non-GMO EU category SIGS (spray-induced gene silencing).