Plant microbiome-based approaches aim to enhance plant immunity and resilience by leveraging beneficial microbes and managing the microbial community through both direct applications and indirect agricultural practices. Advances in sequencing technologies now enable targeted, sustainable disease management strategies that complement traditional crop protection within integrated pest management (IPM) frameworks.
Biostimulants have the potential to enhance both plant growth and defence mechanisms. Elicitors, a specific category of biostimulants, can activate plant defence responses by simulating the presence of biotic stressors. The use of natural products such as biostimulants and elicitors can reduce reliance on chemical pesticides, promote crop resilience and health, and contribute to more sustainable agricultural practices.
The James Hutton Institute is a beneficiary partner on the Marie Skłodowska-Curie Innovative Training Network project ‘MiRA: Microbe-induced Resistance to Agricultural pests’, which started on 1st December 2017 and is co-ordinated by the University of Copenhagen. The project is funded by the European Union’s Horizon 2020 programme and offers 15 PhD positions starting in April 2018 at different research institutions and companies in Europe.
Across the EU tougher pesticide regulations mean that fewer products and few applications are permitted per season. This is mainly driven by very low allowable pesticide residues in food, feed and drink, concerns over general environmental impacts of pesticides and specific issues like the potential contribution of pesticide overuse to pollinator decline. As a result, new research is prioritised at EU and UK level to find biologically derived replacement products that are compatible with other IPM tools, particularly biocontrol agents.
