Singapore: Study on uncovering microbiomes for urban farming
“As the world grapples with the COVID-19 pandemic which, adversely impacts food supply-chains, we need urgent reformative actions to build greater food resilience and security.
Hort Daily
Feb 3, 2021
Excerpt:
This initiative is a part of a cross-disciplinary project in collaboration with a local urban farm over the last four years. This study is timely and unique, given that green leafy vegetables are suitable for a variety of farming formats that are being adopted by diverse stakeholders as part of Singapore’s “30 by 30” goal of having one-third of the food that the nation needs to be grown locally by 2030. The wealth of information generated from this resource will aid in cultivating high quality green leafy vegetables with reduced chemical inputs.
From the assembled microbial genomes, the researchers have identified the functional potential for nutrient provisioning, biocontrol and phytostimulation which will be validated further in a series of systematic studies aimed at specific crop trait enhancement. Outcomes from these studies will be instrumental for selecting and screening microbial strains for developing bio-based solutions to improve crop production.
Dr Pavagadhi Shruti, the senior manager of the research team said, “As the world grapples with the COVID-19 pandemic which, adversely impacts food supply-chains, we need urgent reformative actions to build greater food resilience and security. Through this study, we are taking the first step towards building innovative solutions to boost local production in a highly sustainable manner.
