Overview
Plant mycosis refers to the diseases caused by plant pathogenic fungi, accounting for about 70 ~ 80% of plant diseases. Mycosis is almost impossible to detect or diagnose in time. By the time farmers notice obvious symptoms, the crop has been completely infected or the fungal pathogen has infected other crops. Among the plant pathogenic fungi, there exists a species called Rhizoctonia solani, which can widely infect about 32 families of plants. Rice sheath blight is a disease caused by Rhizoctonia solani. In China, where ShB was first reported in 1934, ShB is now the second most common disease in rice, resulting in a loss of 10 to 30 percent of yield, or about 6 million tons of grain every year. During the pandemic, the infection rate in the Yangtze River Basin and rice growing areas in southern China were as high as 50%; In Arkansas, ShB was found in 50~66% of rice fields in 2001, resulting in 5~15% yield losses.
More than 3.5 billion people live on rice. Current FAO projections suggest that the global population could increase by 2.3 billion people from current levels, reaching 9.8 billion by 2050. Globally, agricultural production and consumption in 2050 are expected to be 60% higher than today. This must be done despite limited arable land, increasing demand for fresh water, and the impact of climate change. Innovative approaches, including Information and Communication Technologies (ICT), are needed across the agricultural sector to increase productivity and conserve natural resources. Therefore, the damage caused by rice sheath blight is undoubtedly huge at a time when the population is booming and food supply cannot be satisfied.
Product Forms & Application Method
Prevention
After interviews in our human practices, we developed our second generation product for prevention, TACE2.0, which is prepared in 3 mm particles. After purchasing TACE2.0 products, users can spray 3mm TACE2.0 particles evenly in the field by means of UAV or manual fertilizer pump. After calculation, we recommend that the dosage of TACE2.0 is 3 grains per plant, that is, 6.07 gram per acre.
Figure 1. Tace 2.0 & Its Mechanism of Action
Detection
Our ENose contains acquisition devices and management devices and an affiliated app: Smart Farm. Both kinds of devices have a 2.17 m high fixed rod and users can apply them on the farm followed by instructions (See on Attachment-ENose). These devices can monitor and manage the information in the field and users can remotely monitor the farm with our app: Smart Farm, such as order a drown to spray TACE2.0 in the field.(More detailed function and application can be seen on Attachment-Smart Farm App) Since the recommended radius of the ENose management device is 45 meters, they will be placed in field at intervals of less than 90 meters.
Figure 2. Detection of Our ENose System
In future applications, in order to facilitate the storage of LAMP reaction reagents, we plan to prepare the reaction reagents into lyophilized microspheres and place them in PCR tubes (one microsphere corresponds to one reaction). Our LAMP-LFD device is a portable test strip. In the laboratory, researchers use it to quickly detect rice sheath blight. In the field, with the help of our portable field testing kits, which contain LAMP lyophilized microspheres, LFD and other equipment required for detection. The devices in this kit are portable and simple to operate, which is conducive to field detection by scientists and their immediate feedback to farmers.
Figure 3. Detection of LAMP-LFD
The final shRNA molecules sprayed in the field will be hybridized with carbon nanotubes (CNT), which is one of the most significant features of the product as well as keeps the shRNA molecules stable. Our 10 shRNA molecules designed for 7 mRNAs of R.solani are able to perform different functions, respectively affecting the infection process and activity of R.solani. Before its implementation in field, we will also explore the effect of co-spraying these shRNAs. We will concentrate these CNT-shRNAs into a solution and use UAVs to spray them in paddy fields where rice sheath blight has been detected. After calculation, we recommend that the dosage of CNT-shRNA molecules is 100 μg per plant. Considering cost, they will be sprayed in small areas within the detection range of ENose.
Figure 4. The Production Process Of shRNA-CNT
Target Users
In a simple analysis, RiceAide should be aimed at farmers. However, based on our social practice and field visit experience, we found that although farmers are the end users of our project, their decisions are actually influenced by higher level policies. For the farmers employed by grain enterprises, the regulations and tendencies of the companies determine their treating methods; For farmers who farm private fields, government decisions about recommended pesticides and dosage are all factors to consider. Therefore, our project target users are farmers, grain companies and government agriculture departments.
User Manual
In order to let users understand our operation process, we have written very detailed user product manuals.
Safety
Pesticide of Trichoderma
We will carry out corresponding safety studies according to provisional pesticide registration requirements in China.
First of all, we will conduct efficacy tests, toxicity studies and environmental residue and toxicology tests on our Trichoderma pesticides. If we can meet the requirements for provisional registration of pesticides, we will register our products. After successful layer by layer, chronic toxicity tests, environmental ecology and environmental behavior studies will be carried out. If these two studies also passed, then can enter the promotion test, industrialization process research.
Pesticide of RNAi
Environmental risk assessment of RNA pesticides mainly includes assessment of the presence and degradation of shrnas released during application in the environment, effects on non-target species, and possible risks to human health.
Degradation in the environment can be detected by radioisoform 32P labeling; Traditional acute and chronic toxicological detection methods can be used for the effects on non-target species. It has been shown that it is relatively safe for human health.
According to the OECD meeting, shRNAs, as nucleic acids, are composed of the same genetic sequences as those found in humans and other organisms that may be ingest them. At the same time, significant physiological and biochemical barriers exist in humans and other vertebrates, such as nucleases in saliva and digestive tract, pH differences in gastric juice, and lysosomes in cells, which affect the uptake of exogenous shRNA nucleic acids. Therefore, shRNA is relatively safe for human health.
However, the potential risks of RNA pesticides to the human body should not be ignored. So in the future implementation, we recommend that our users must take routine precautions when spraying to prevent inhaling our product. For example, use appropriate personal protective equipment (PPE) for protection.
Promotion Of Vision
Prodction
In the production of Trichoderma atroviride, many production companies have their own large fermentation platforms, which can carry out a large amount of fermentation production at low cost. At the same time, there are many companies that produce biocontrol bacteria in China. We can work with biocontrol companies to produce our Trichoderma products.
In the production of RNA pesticides, China has taken RNA biopesticides as a priority development field. Through the development of Greenlight Biosciences, RNAgri and others, the production cost of dsRNA has dropped from $12,000/g in 2008 to $1/g in 2021. The decreasing cost indicates that the fundamental problem of the commercial application of RNA biopesticides has been effectively solved.
User Promotion
First of all, we will promote our products to the corresponding agricultural industry and the government. They have the demand to develop digital agriculture and precision agriculture, and relatively have certain financial resources to buy our products.
Then we can promote it to some well-educated self-employed farmers who are willing to try new things. Through the use of communication and recommendation between the self-employed, our products will be widely used in small farms.
When our device is popularized, it may face problems such as large amount of data and data security. At this time, we will let the government control the data, so as to ensure data security and other issues. At the same time, the government can use our equipment to improve their own database.
Thus, we will be able to popularize digital agriculture, at the same time better promote the development of agricultural land in China, and protect the rights and interests of farmers.
Project Extension
The goal of our project is to contribute our share to precision agriculture and digital agriculture in the future, and to provide solutions to the inevitable diseases and pests that occur every year, as well as the consequent high cost of large-scale fertilizer and pesticide use and serious environmental pollution.
- 1. Our Trichoderma atroviride can enhance the resistance of rice and prevent the infection of bacteria.
- 2. Our RNAi products can be based on the actual needs of a variety of different disease-specific treatment.
- 3. In addition to detecting the special odor molecules of rice sheath wilt, our electronic nose can also detect various meteorological data such as temperature and humidity, which can better protect farmers' rights and interests, fill in the vacancy of local meteorological data, and help farmers/government to better choose suitable plants. At the same time, by training the model and expanding the database in the future, the function of comprehensive pest and disease detection can also be realized.
- 4. The accompanying APP makes the mobile phone become a new agricultural tool, which can not only be used to manage and test farmland, but also provide a platform for stakeholders to communicate with each other, so that they can exchange information, so as to truly realize the "digital agriculture".
References
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