Salicrop, an Israeli company, offers a cutting-edge solution for improving plant resiliency and preventing significant losses in crop productivity in a rapidly changing climate.
According to the company, Salicrop’s seed enhancement technology enhances plants' ability to withstand a range of stressors, including salinity, drought, temperature fluctuations, and other agronomic challenges. Salicrop’s research has shown that its technology has a significant positive impact on plant growth, final yield, and post-harvest quality. The company believes that its technology is the go-to solution for addressing the global climate challenges currently impacting plant growth and development.
Tomato growing and changing climate
Tomato (Solanum lycopersicum) is one of thirty crop species providing 90% of our food. Most of these species display severe yield loss under abiotic stresses and too much salt in the soil is one of them. Climate, including rainfall and temperature, influences crops' tolerance to salinity. Unfortunately, the future weather forecast predicts that our Earth will be hotter and dryer. Cultivating crop plants more tolerant to a hostile environment in times of global warming and population increase is the current challenge and future solution for agriculture.
Facing the stress
Although tomato plants can resist moderate salinity, they are still much more sensitive than their ancestors from South America the wild tomato genotype. High salt induces osmotic stress and ionic imbalance, thus inhibiting the growth of tomato plants. Both salt stress-induced stomatal closure and accumulation of high levels of sodium ions in the cytoplasm impair the photosynthetic processes. Generally, seed germination and early seedling growth are most susceptible to salinity, and roots are more vulnerable than other organs. Excessive oxidative stress induced by high salinity can damage the structure of macromolecules. Plants generate salt tolerance mechanisms, to minimize the adverse effects of salt stress, by regulating the expression of salt response genes.
Epigenetic modifications, also known as chromatin modifications, induced by the pre-treatment of tomato seeds, regulate stress–responsive gene expression and plant development, conferring stress adaptation.
Similar tolerance mechanisms are responsible for the adaptation of plant metabolism to other abiotic stresses, including drought and excessive heat. The enhanced seed material exhibits an improved resilience to adverse environmental conditions and promotes plant vigor and yielding potential under stress exposure.
Looking for sustainable remedies
The Salicrop technology improved tomato heat and salt tolerance by application of enhancing formulation on tomato seeds. The field observation has proven that the proprietary technology of tomato seed enhancement increases crop development & yield parameters and allows the seeds to maximize their genetic potential to thrive under abiotic stress conditions. The tomato plants had increased tolerance towards biotic stresses including pests, successful seed germination and emergence, better seedling establishment, improved root structure and yielded better quality and quantity of crops.
Field-proofed results
Following the results from one of the field observations (Beit Shean Valley Israel), an increase in tomato fruit yield by 13.5 tons/Ha was observed, which translated into the commercial value giving an increase in income of about 1591 €/Ha.
Beit Shean Valley has a combination of warm and dry climates. Agriculture in this area is facing challenges like heavy salty soils and saline water irrigation. In the different plots of the region, it was proven that Salicrop seeds enhancement technology improved almost every significant index of the cultivated tomato plants crop like plant growth and final yield. The observation included the monitoring of the development of stem thickness (the stem diameter), mapping the plot variations (remote sensing satellite using NDVI), and yield assessment (the average yield of fruit in kg per square meter and the average weight of the individual fruit).
The other field observations using Salicrop tomato seed enhancement technology were carried out in cooperation with farming organizations and food processing companies not only from Israel, but also from Spain and Italy and Senegal. Following promising positive results of 15% yield increase in average, Salicrop will significantly expand its activity around the world.
Nature-oriented solution
The Salicrop technology is non-GMO and the enhancement formulation is generic and applicable to various crops after calibration to each crop's specific requirements. Compatibility of the Salicrop seed enhancement with organic and regenerative agricultural practices can be considered an additional benefit.
The implementation of Salicrop technology is not only offering an increase in farming income but also the answer to the current global climate challenge.
Looking into 2023
The reliability of the technology was already confirmed by the extensive R&D. Since 2018 the company has completed over 100 field experiments in Israel, India and Europe.
More pre-commercial observations are now established in Portugal, Turkey, Italy, Spain Senegal and more. The company further develops its technological expertise and expands the Salicrop global presence including acceleration of joint ventures with strategic partners (including seed companies and farming organizations) and commercial sales.
Source: Salicrop
