Seeds put on a new "coat" to lock water and grow well against drought

Seeds put on a new "coat" to lock water and grow well against drought

Seeds put on a new "coat" to lock water to resist drought and grow well.

Science and Technology Daily News (intern reporter Zhang Jiaxin) Seeds put on a new "coat", lock water and grow well against drought! As the world's climate continues to warm, many arid regions will face increasing pressure on agricultural production
.

According to a paper published in the journal Nature Food on July 8, researchers from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in the United States have invented a promising new coating process that can reduce the water shortage pressure faced by the critical germination stage of seeds.

The team developed a double-layer seed coating
.

The previous version can make the seeds resist the high salt content in the soil, but the goal of the new version is to solve the water shortage problem of the seeds

Benedetto Marelli, professor of civil and environmental engineering at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, explained that there is clear evidence that climate change will affect basins in the Mediterranean region.
Therefore, the researchers wanted to create a seed coating specifically designed to deal with drought.
, To help alleviate the water pressure caused by climate change on agricultural production
.

The outer layer of the new double-layer coating is a gel-like coating that wraps the seeds to "lock in" all moisture
.

The inner layer of the coating contains preserved microorganisms called "rhizosphere bacteria" and some nutrients that promote the growth of seeds

According to the researchers, the first layer of seed coating can be achieved by dipping and the second layer can be achieved by spraying.
The process is simple and low-cost, and can be widely deployed in arid regions
.

At the same time, the materials required for coating are often used in the food industry, are easily available, and can be completely biodegradable

Marelli said that while this process will increase the cost of the seeds themselves, it can also save money by reducing the need for water and fertilizer
.

Researchers conducted early tests on the new seeds using soil from a trial farm in Morocco.
From the perspective of root quality, stem height, chlorophyll content and other indicators, the application of the new coating is very promising
.

In the next step, the team will use the new technology to cultivate a complete crop from seed to fruit to test whether it has increased the yield of agricultural products under drought conditions
.

In the future, researchers will also design coating agents that adapt to different climate patterns, and it is possible to achieve tailor-made coatings for seeds according to the predicted rainfall in a specific growing season