Seeds are remarkably robust as a propagation mechanism for plants but seedlings can be susceptible to attack from pests and diseases and also lack symbiotic microbes. Seedling protection and symbiont inoculation can be provided by coatings of live bacterial cells. The effectiveness of this process can be limited by failure to obtain sufficient numbers on the coating of the seed, by poor survival of the microbes on the seed during transport and sowing and poor competitive behaviour of the microbes once placed in the soil.
These limitations are overcome by the EnCoate™ system of coating with microbes entrapped within a biopolymer gel. Bacteria incorporated into the gel can be coated in high numbers onto seeds and remain viable through storage and delivery. Seeds treated include clover, carrot, swede with a range of microbes including the bacteria Rhizobium leguminarosum, Pseudomonas fluorescens, Bacillus subtilis, and Serratia entomophila and the fungi Beauveria bassiana and Trichoderma spp. Within the gel stabilised microbes can survive through storage until liberated into the rhizosphere in the presence of soil moisture. The seed coating process can be used for inoculants, protective bacteria and growth stimulating microbes.
Seed coating of a range of seed types
Coated wheat seeds
Coated grass seed
Coated clover seed
