Project start: 01.11.2018
Project end: 31.10.2021
Sponsor: Federal Ministry of Food and Agriculture

The project mikroPraep represents a joint network of two research institutes, a biotechnological company and an associated university partner. The overall goal is the development of a marketable plant protection agent based on a strain of the bacterium Lysobacter enzymogenes. Ideally, the product provides broad action against several fungal and bacterial diseases on diverse crop plants. In a first step, antifungal and antibacterial activity will be investigated in the lab as well as in greenhouse trials. Here, efficacy of living bacterial cells and cell- free fermenter cultures will be tested individually. In that way it can be determined to which extent fungicidal and antibacterial effects are based on whole living cells or on bacterial metabolites. Additionally a detailed characterisation of the bacterial metabolites will be carried out, an important step regarding high product efficacy and safety. In subsequent steps different formulations will be produced and tested regarding aspects such as storage stability, applicability and biological activity. These parts of the project will be mainly investigated in field trials on different crops.