Europe Direct is a service to help you find answers
to your questions about the European Union
New freephone number:
00 800 6 7 8 9 10 11
LEGAL NOTICE
Neither the European Commission nor any person acting on behalf of the Commission is responsible for the
use which might be made of the following information.
The views expressed in this publication are the sole responsibility of the author and do not necessarily reflect the
views of the European Commission.
A great deal of additional information on the European Union is available on the Internet.
It can be accessed through the Europa server (http://europa.eu.int).
Cataloguing data can be found at the end of this publication.
Luxembourg: Office for Official Publications of the European Communities, 2004
ISBN 92-894-5168-8
© European Communities, 2004
Reproduction is authorised provided the source is acknowledged.
Printed in Belgium
PRINTED ON WHITE CHLORINE-FREE PAPER
Small farmers in China cannot afford expensive chemical fertilisers, but suffer low yields
because their soils are often phosphate-deficient. A European-Chinese project has been
working to provide the farmers with an alternative solution, using soil fungi that associate
with plant roots to improve phosphate acquisition. The three-year project has entirely
developed these `biofertilisers' for three staple crops, from initial identification and culture of
fungi from Chinese soils to provision of inoculum to small farmers. Yield increases of up to
11 % were recorded in field trials.
bout 74% of agricultural soil in
Pearson, who is based at the Institut
China is phosphate-deficient.
National de la Recherche Agronomique
Phosphate is an essential nutrient for
(INRA) in France. "The fungi accumu-
plant
deficiency
late phosphate and release it to the
reduces crop yields. Many farmers
plant." More than 80% of plant families
struggling with these poor soils can-
form relationships with mycorrhizal fungi,
Reference
FP5-INCO-2-ICA4-CT2000-30014
not afford chemical fertilisers, which
including most crop plants.
Programme
FP5: International Scientific
Co-operation
European and Chinese collaborative
Although these fungi are naturally pres-
project set up in 2000 has given
ent in soils, the community in a given
farmers
Title
Mycorrhiza technology for staple
food crop production in small-scale
sustainable agriculture in
China (MYCHINTEC)
Contact
Dr Vivienne Gianinazzi-Pearson
Institut National de la Recherche
Agronomique
France
Fax: +33 3 8069 3753
vivienne.gianinazzi-pearson@
epoisses. inra.fr
http: //www. dijon. inra.fr/bbceipm/
Mychintec/
The International Bank for the
Glomeromycota is at
http: //www. kent. ac. uk/bio/beg/
Partners
Institut National de la
Recherche Agronomique,
France
Universitât Hohenheim,
Germany
The International Institute of
Biotechnology, UK
Huazhong Agricultural
University, China
Department of Plant Nutrition of
the China Agricultural University,
China
Hong Kong Polytechnic
University, China
A
growth,
so
this
cost up to €225 per hectare. A
to
soil is not always as effective as it could
improve the soil, using the natural
an
alternative
way
be. AMF differ in their ability to provide
soil-enhancing abilities of Arbuscular
phosphate to plants and there is great
Mycorrhizal Fungi (AMF). This rela-
scope for enhancing soil fertility by opti-
tively new biotechnology is cheap
mising the fungal partners in phos-
enough to be accessible but, unlike
phate-poor soils. A second benefit of
phosphate fertilisers, does not pol-
AMF, not yet clearly understood, is pro-
lute the environment. The there-year
tection against soil pathogens such as
project, Mychintec, involves six part-
nematodes.
ner organisations - three in China
and three in Europe.
Working together
Root partners
Mychintec brought together two preexisting
consortia
of
European
scopic fungi that form a partnership
potential
of
with plant roots in the soil. The fungus
worked
with
takes sugars from the plant, and the
Biotechnology
plant gains nutrients, usually phos-
national database of mycorrhizal fungi
phate, from the fungus. "Mycorrhizal
in 1993, and has collaborated with sci-
fungi are able to explore the soil more
entists at the Huazhong Agricultural
efficiently than roots," explains project
University in central China since then.
coordinator
At a meeting in 1998, this team dis-
Gianinazzi-
working
and
AMF are naturally occurring, micro-
Vivienne
scientists
Chinese
biofertilisers.
on
the
INRA
first
the
UK's
Institute
to
develop
an
of
inter-
Mass production of fungal inoculum at
the small Chinese company, Kaifa.
Sweet potato crop in
Tangshan, north China.
covered another group of scientists,
e-Fungi
from Hohenheim University in Germany
and the China Agricultural University in
The first stage of the project was to
northern China. Along with scientists
take soil and root samples from the
from Hong Kong, in the south, a new
three different Chinese regions. Fungi
cross-China collaboration was born.
were isolated and cultured from these
Satisfied customers
samples. Thirty-one fungal isolates
Finally, with advice from Biorize, the
"We decided to focus on mycorrhizal
were added to the international data-
Chinese company Kaifa cultured the
fungi, and gather together the whole
base of AMF and information about
mycorrhizal fungi into a soil-based
chain of development, from identifying
them made available to researchers on
inoculum useable by farmers, which
fungi to a pre-commercial inoculum
the internet in English, Spanish, French
was taken to Chinese farms for trials in
product," says Gianinazzi-Pearson. The
and Chinese (see contact information).
2002
project involves two small biotechnol-
The isolates themselves are maintained
extremely
ogy companies - a French company,
at the Chinese institutions which col-
increased by up to 11 % in sweet potato
Biorize, which produces AMF inoculum
lected the samples. Scientists at INRA
and maize, and there was a quality
for the European horticulture industry
analysed their genetic sequences and
increase of up to 26%.
and a Chinese company, Kaifa, which
devised fungus-specific DNA probes
develops biotechnologies for Chinese
that could track the fate of individual
The farmers involved in the trials are
farmers.
fungal types in soil and plant roots.
pleased with the system. "At first, they
and
2003.
Results
encouraging.
Crop
were
yields
were unsure," says Gianinazzi-Pearson.
Fungal biofertilisers are not well suited
The second phase of the project, led by
"Chinese small farmers are very eco-
to European agriculture, whose large-
the Chinese Agricultural University in
logically minded, and used to working
scale automated planting methods are
Beijing, was to test the fungi for their
with their soils. They are distrustful of
not amenable to inoculating soil around
ability to provide extra phosphate to
anything that is unnatural." In a recent
plant roots. By contrast, the three staple
plants. Some were better than others,
meeting, she asked farmers what they
crops involved in Mychintec - sweet
and
the
thought. "Now they are very enthusias-
potato, maize and cassava - are usual-
activity of certain genes could be used
tic and would have no hesitation in buy-
ly planted out by hand in China. "Hand-
as indicators of efficiency. "Of the 31
ing the technology," she reports. Kaifa
planting makes it easy to introduce
isolates added to the database, around
is keen to commercialise the biofertilisers,
small
15 have really interesting plant fertiliser
which could be on the market in two or
abilities," says Gianinazzi-Pearson.
three years.
amounts
of
inoculum,"
Gianinazzi-Pearson. Sweet
widely
grown
for
food
China,
maize
is
popular
says
potato is
in
in
northern
central
China, and cassava is a staple in
southern China.
scientists
discovered
that