NEWS

Through the project "Management of irrigation and mycorrhization in agricultural crops" we are investigating the possibility of optimizing irrigation management in tomato crops by inoculation with mycorrhizae.

Semillas Fitó is part of a task force which since 2018 has been working on a project entitled "Management of irrigation and mycorrhization of agricultural crops (Resolution ARP258/2015)", subsidized with funds from the EAFRD through the Government of Catalonia. This work is being carried out in collaboration with the horticultural producer Agrícola Maresme S.XXI, the agronomic consulting firm Arrau and the research group of Dr. María Cinta Calvet who heads the IRTA-Cabrils Sustainable Plant Protection programme.

The aim of the project is to optimize irrigation management in tomato crops by inoculation with mycorrhizae. This technology, which could be extrapolated to other crops in the future, would promote sustainability in agricultural operations through savings in water consumption.

In the second half of 2018, the first round of tests was concluded under both optimal and water stress conditions in the tomato crops of our facilities in Sant Andreu de Llavaneres. In the first half of 2019, the second round of tests was carried out to validate results under optimal and under water stress conditions, both in hydroponic and traditional cultivation, through the inoculation with mycorrhizae of tomato seeds or of the substrate.

In parallel, the project also studies the differences at the metabolomic level in the fruit and in the colonization by biological control insects of inoculated and non-inoculated plants, to validate the results of the new methodology.