Beneficial plant-microbe interactions

Exploiting beneficial microbes to biostimulate plant productivity and crop yield in sustainable food production   

Professor Barbara Ann Halkier was awarded the Novo Nordic Distinguished Investigator grant in June 2020 and will investigate how plants recruit and maintain beneficial microbes for plant growth promotion in order to apply this knowledge to improve crop productivity in sustainable food production.   

Project description

Towards the goal to increase food production while sustainably managing natural resources there is an urgent need to find alternative solutions to present day crop production with heavy use of synthetic agrochemicals. Harnessing nature’s beneficial microbes to sustain and improve crop productivity and yield is regarded a cornerstone of the next green revolution.

We will decipher molecular mechanisms of root-microbe interaction from a plant perspective by decoding the chemical language of plants in recruitment of beneficial microbes. Towards this goal, we will isolate beneficial microbes contributing plant growth promotion to plants from soils across Danish habitats. Using a model plant, we will gain mechanistic understanding of the role of exuded plant metabolites in recruiting and maintaining beneficial microbes.

The gained knowledge is expected to impact future capacity to develop microbial products as biotechnological solutions to bio-stimulate crop productivity and yield and reduce use of synthetic agrochemicals, thus contributing to a more sustainable food production.

The project grant amounts to 10 mill and has a duration of 5 years.

The project partners are Professor Barbara Ann Halkier and Scientific consultant Deyang Xu.