SBIR-STTR Award

Crazy Root disease (Agrobacterium rhizogenes; CR) has recently been recognized as an emergingdisease particularly in greenhouse hydroponic tomato production. There is currently nocommercial product for control of CR disease.Consequently growers must sterilize or throw awayall infected materials leading to added expenses and operational downtime. Use of biocontrol ingreenhouses continues to increase; however a significant problem in the expanding biologicalsmarket is inconsistent performance of biological products.3Bar Biologics is bringing to market a novel beneficial microbe delivery system to improve sub- optimal inconsistent performance of biological products.The delivery system is easily activatedon-site by the grower by simply pushing a button to combine the stabilized bacteria inoculum withthe liquid growth medium.3Bar's disposable bioreactor technology opens up the potential forgrowers to apply more effective microbial strains with CR control capability. Discovery research atThe Ohio State University has identified several Pseudomonas strains capable of CR control.Theproposed Phase I project aims to prove feasibility to prevent CR disease in hydroponic tomatoproduction using the identified Pseudomonas strains delivered with 3Bar's system.The proposedwork addresses three technical objectives: i) maximize cellular yields in the system with identifiedPseudomonas strains ii) characterize compatibility of new formulations for feasible use inhydroponics systems and iii) evaluate efficacy in greenhouse hydroponic tomato production. Theultimate goal is to develop a broad-spectrum biocontrol product for use against multiple plantdiseases particularly Crazy Root and fungal root rots and at the same time provide "probiotic"benefits to plants to increase vegetable yield and quality in hydroponic systems.The proposedproject is directly aligned with USDA NIFA Challenge Area 1) Global Food Security and Priority8.2.3) to research bio-based approaches for plant protection against abiotic and biotic stresses.

Project Summary: Crazy Root (CR) disease (caused by Agrobacterium rhizogenes) has recently been recognized as an emerging disease particularly in greenhouse hydroponic tomato production. There is currently no commercial product for control of CR disease. Newly emerging diseases such as CR disease and more common oomycetic root-rot diseases (such as those caused by Pythium spp.) can easily spread throughout an entire hydroponic system leading to plant decline and significant yield loss for the grower. Consequently growers must sterilize or throw away all infected materials leading to added expenses and operational downtime. The potential utility of beneficial microorganisms for the sustainable enhancement of vegetable production is well established in the research literature. While use of biocontrol in greenhouses continues to increase; however a significant problem in the expanding biologicals market is in consistent performance of microbial products.3Bar Biologics is bringing to market a novel beneficial microbe delivery system to improve sub-optimal inconsistent performance of microbial products. The delivery system is easily activated on-site by the grower by simply pushing a button to combine the stabilized bacteria inoculum with the liquid growth medium.3Bar's disposable bioreactor technology opens up the potential for growers to apply more effective microbial strains with CR control capability. Discovery research at The Ohio State University identified several Pseudomonas strains capable of CR disease control. Phase I findings support the commercial potential for biocontrol of CR disease consistently showing 60-70%+ reduction of CR disease on tomato in a pilot hydroponic system using the Pseudomonas strains produced in 3Bar's delivery system. The delivery system enables a low cost fast route for product development scale-up and biomanufacturing to accelerate commercialization. Building on Phase I efforts the proposed Phase II expected outcomes will include reducing to practice application of the microbe technology in a production setting to create label and use instructions for product registration. In parallel scaling up of the formulation and processes for pilot manufacturing will be further developed. The proposed work addresses fourkey technical objectives for achieving commercialization: i) demonstrate product stability underlonger term/broader range of conditions ii) scale-up processes for biomanufacturing iii) defineproduct label and use instructions and iv) demonstrate consistent product performance for CR disease control in commercial hydroponic production to support product registrations and marketing materials. Additionally research will be expanded to demonstrate potential for application to additional hydroponic vegetable crops and against other common fungal/oomycete root rot diseases with the ultimate goal of developing a broad-spectrum biocontrol product. The proposed project is directly aligned with USDA's priorities in addressing climate change via climate-smart agriculture and tackling food insecurity (through application of more sustainable bio-based practices in hydroponic production systems) and SBIR Priority 8.2 to research bio-based approaches for plant protection against a biotic and biotic stresses.