{"id":18676,"date":"2014-01-03T03:09:53","date_gmt":"2014-01-03T01:09:53","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.biofuelsdigest.com\/biobased\/2013\/12\/24\/bacteria-to-aid-sustainable-sugarcane-production\/"},"modified":"2013-12-31T11:33:34","modified_gmt":"2013-12-31T09:33:34","slug":"new-bacteria-boost-sustainable-sugarcane-farming","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/new-bacteria-boost-sustainable-sugarcane-farming\/","title":{"rendered":"New bacteria to boost sustainable sugarcane farming"},"content":{"rendered":"

University of Queensland researchers have discovered a new species of bacterium that could potentially reduce the need for nitrogen fertiliser in cane farming.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Lead researcher Dr Chanyarat Paungfoo-Lonhienne, from UQ\u2019s Institute for Molecular Bioscience (IMB), School of Agriculture and Food Science (SAFS) and Australian Centre for Ecogenomics (ACE), said current nitrogen fertilisers are expensive and their run-off could damage the environment.<\/p>\n

\u201cOne way to overcome the problems associated with nitrogen fertilisers is to supplement them with bacteria as a biofertiliser,\u201d Dr Paungfoo-Lonhienne said.<\/p>\n

\u201cBacteria use nitrogen from the air to produce nitrogen compounds that feed plants, so the crop receives the nutrients it needs with increased sustainability and at a lower cost.<\/p>\n

\u201cUsing bacteria as a biofertiliser in sugarcane production has had varying results to date, but we took a new approach and found a potential source in the bacteria already present around the roots of thriving sugarcane plants.\u201d<\/p>\n

Dr Paungfoo-Lonhienne and the UQ team examined bacteria in the soil and roots of sugarcane from two plots near Ayr in North Queensland and identified three abundant types.<\/p>\n

They tested the ability of these bacteria to boost sugarcane growth in controlled laboratory conditions and found one that promoted plant growth.<\/p>\n

The team sequenced the bacterium\u2019s genome to confirm its genetic potential to turn nitrogen into plant food.<\/p>\n

The sequence also revealed that the bacterium is a new species, which the team named Burkholderia australis.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe process we used has identified a potential biofertiliser for Queensland sugarcane, and a useful method for developing bacterial biofertilisers that could work in other parts of the world on different varieties of sugarcane,\u201d Dr Paungfoo-Lonhienne said.<\/p>\n

The team\u2019s next step is to determine methods of delivering the bacterium to the sugarcane on a larger scale and to carry out field trials.<\/p>\n

The research was supported by the Queensland Government and conducted in collaboration with the sugar industry.<\/p>\n

Queensland Minister for Science and Innovation, Ian Walker said the discovery could improve Queensland sugarcane yields for very little extra expense.<\/p>\n

\u201cAustralia is the third-largest supplier of raw sugar in the world, with 95 per cent of the nation\u2019s sugarcane grown in Queensland,\u201d Mr Walker said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Queensland Government\u2019s investment in this research should pay dividends in the future for cane growers who are looking to farm sustainably while boosting their crop\u2019s growth.\u201d<\/p>\n

The research was published in the Society for Applied Microbiology\u2019s Microbial Biotechnology journal.<\/p>\n

To give a tax-deductible donation to agricultural research at IMB, please visit www.imb.uq.edu.au\/donate<\/a> or call (07) 3346 2134.<\/p>\n

The Institute for Molecular Bioscience (IMB) is a research institute of The University of Queensland that aims to improve quality of life by advancing medical genomics, drug discovery and biotechnology.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In the United Kingdom, scientists have discovered a bacterium that could reduce the use of fertilize…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"","nova_meta_subtitle":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[5572],"tags":[],"supplier":[6282,6280,1299],"class_list":["post-18676","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-bio-based","supplier-australian-centre-ecogenomics","supplier-school-agriculture-foodscience","supplier-university-of-queensland-australien"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18676","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=18676"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18676\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=18676"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=18676"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=18676"},{"taxonomy":"supplier","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/supplier?post=18676"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}