HYDRAZOME
HYDRAZOME
Here’s the story of an overlooked problem…
WATERLOGGING
It occurs when there is too much water near plant roots
But it is NOTas simple as it sounds!
12000000+
hectares of agricultural land in India is waterlogged
53000+
crores INR of economic loss annually in India
It causes a loss of
2 million
tonnes of food production annually
A loss of upto
26,000 million
kilos of food can be prevented
in India by tackling this issue alone
This results in a HUGE BLOW to our farmers…
Sadly it is not just limited to India!
Loss in
50%
of wheat yield
Agricultural productivity decrease by
30%
leaving the land untenable
Why is WATER such a pain in the ROOTS?
Plants normally convert a molecule called ACC into ethylene. ACC production is upregulated under the hypoxic conditions of waterlogging. This response involves a harmful peak in ethylene production. This harmful peak results in low crop productivity and plant death.
We've found a SOLUTION to this!
HYDRAZOME
Our chassis,
Azospirillum brasilense
is already an amazing friend to the plants and is used as a biofertilizer world-wide. Using this we aim to:
Introduce the acdS gene to break down ACC into ammonia and α-ketobutyrate to prevent formation of harmful ethylene
Deal with the repercussions of waterlogging-salt deposition and drought like conditions which are known to make the land uncultivable
The acdS gene will be in effect ONLY during waterlogging. Hence, our biofertilizer, Hydrazome with our modified chassis can be used throughout the year!
Water water, everywhere,
not a single plant to spare