A Chinese biotech firm is talking with University of Waterloo biologists about collaborating on more farming uses for plant growth-promoting bacteria.
Kiwa Bio-Tech Products Group, a publicly traded Beijing company, on Tuesday announced it had met with Waterloo biologist Xiao-Dong Huang “to discuss the possibility” of joint research and development work on rhizobacteria, or root-colonizing bacteria, which live on or near plant roots in soil.
Rhizobium inoculants are already commercially used in agriculture; the bacteria attach to plant roots and allow the plant to make more efficient use of both soil and fertilizer nutrients. But the Waterloo biology department’s biotech research group has been working on new commercial applications for rhizobacteria in both agriculture and environmental remediation, such as on soils contaminated by petroleum or salts.
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“The results from commercial field applications have shown their distinct positive effects on petroleum degradation in oil fields and vegetation recovery from salt-impacted soils in Western Canada,” the company wrote.
The company added that Huang’s team has identified other possible ag applications, such as increasing crop tolerance and yield in saline soils; cutting down soil residues and pollution from farm chemicals; and boosting crops’ yields and quality.
The company said its CEO Wei Li and Waterloo’s Huang agreed on the “great potential” for collaboration between the company and the school, and that Huang will soon meet with the company’s own research officials on “establishing collaboration relations.”
Kiwa’s web site describes the company’s business as the development of “innovative, cost-effective and environmentally safe biotechnological products for agricultural and natural resources and environmental conservation.” The company said it also recently bought the manufacturing and marketing rights to an anti-viral aerosol agent for use in blocking the spread of avian influenza.
