SugaROx Ltd and Fera Science Limited will explore the feasibility of using biostimulant technology to improve tomato resilience to climate change, whilst also reducing the carbon footprint of production in the UK.

In tomato production, plant growth, fruit set and yield are optimal at day/night temperatures of 21C to 29.5C and 18.5C to 21C, respectively. An increase of just a few degrees above these ranges can damage reproductive organs, leading to drastic decreases of fruit setting.

Studies show that temperatures of 32C during the day and 26C at night 10 days before anthesis can significantly decrease the number and viability of pollen grains. This impact on pollen is associated with changes in carbohydrate concentration in developing anthers, and affects fruit set.

SugaROx is set to disrupt this space with formulations based on active ingredients (AIs) inspired by plant molecules. “While traditional biostimulants offer yield gains of 2-5 percent for farmers, our approach has the potential to boost yields by up to 22 percent on arable crops,” says Dr. Cara Griffiths, SugaROx’s CTO. “In this new 24-month project, our main objective is to explore the viability of adapting our technology to boost the ability of tomato plants to cope with heat stress. The new high-throughput phenotyping capabilities available at Fera allow us to test this in a very effective and efficient way.”

According to Dr. Aoife Dillon, principal scientist for crop protection at Fera, digital phenotyping tools, such as hyperspectral imagery, “allows us to detect changes in plant status in response to environmental stress much earlier than using traditional methods. In addition, digitalisation reduces the need to destructively sample plants, so is more efficient in terms of time, space and energy usage”.

Using the Phenospex PlantEye Technology, Fera will produce 3-D scans of miniature tomato plants under abiotic stress (heat and drought) with and without the SugaROx biostimulant and compare the development of these plants to unstressed (control) plants. “The model system that we will develop in this study can be used by other biostimulant manufacturers to test their products”, explains Dillon.

Bianca Forte, SugaROx’s business development director explains that to “evaluate the potential of our technology to reduce the carbon footprint of tomato production, experts from ADAS will be involved in our study.”

Sarah Wynn, managing director of the ADAS climate & sustainability team adds: “Through understanding the carbon footprint of the biostimulant itself, and then assessing the carbon benefit of using the biostimulant, versus non-use, we can model the potential carbon gains and the added benefit from its application.”

The British Tomato Growers’ Association (BTGA), which represents the majority of commercial tomato growers in Great Britain, will act as Knowledge Exchange Champion in the consortium. Forte adds: “Through their input, we will ensure our strategy to explore the strengths and weaknesses of our approach takes into account end-users’ practices and needs.”