Tanvi Taparia
Bioinoculants are teams of helpful microbes that protect plants and keep them healthy, even under stress. Yet, these microbial helpers often fail to work when moved from the predictable environment of a research lab to the complex conditions of a farmer’s field. Project Lab2Field explores the social lives of these helpful microbes—how they interact with plants, soils, and other local microbes, in real-world conditions. By uncovering the secrets to their social behaviour, we can create manuals for making these tiny helpers thrive. This will help create reliable and eco-friendly solutions for farmers to use bioinoculants in their fields with success. This research could reduce the need for chemicals like pesticides, promote organic farming practises, help crops adapt to climate change, and support more sustainable food production.