With the development of a sugar signaling treatment, they are laying the groundwork for dramatic increases in wheat yields, up to 12% higher. In this new model, one of the key molecules enabling this high tech training program is Trehalose 6-phosphate (T6P). After four years of extensive field trials in Argentina and Mexico, the results have been promising. Taken together, these results indicate T6P has real potential to increase wheat yield, even in the most arid growing conditions. This could have profound implications on agricultural practices across the globe.
The study started out at Rothamsted Research, UK, way back in 2006. One of the main goals was to identify the underlying molecular mechanisms that regulate plant growth and yield. The study was an enormous success! The upshot of this research was the creation of SugaROx — a Rothamsted/Oxford University spinout company founded to translate these discoveries to agricultural practice.
Field Trials Confirm Efficacy
The three-year long collaborative research was a great success with thorough testing done at CIMMYT in Mexico and INTA in Argentina. T6P became a constant yield booster under four years of trials in Argentina, according to researchers. Perhaps most important, there was an increase in CIMMYT’s testing one single year of yield data.
Dr. Cara Griffiths, the lead author of the policy report, could not be more excited about its prospects. Given her role as the CEO of SugaROx, those opportunities seem very promising. She stated,
“It’s exciting to be able to take cutting-edge technology from the bench to the field. Getting this kind of impact is often difficult to translate to the field, and this work demonstrated that novel crop inputs have huge promise to enhance yield and resilience in our cropping systems, something that is particularly important in a rapidly changing climate.”
The outcome indicates that T6P treatments are effective at increasing yields, even amidst the extreme variability in weather patterns. This is especially important as climate change increasingly puts new pressures on agriculture.
Long Path from Discovery to Application
25 years from first discovery to practical use, it shows the complicated process of agriculture research. Dr. Matthew Paul, who has been instrumental in this research, remarked on the typical duration of such projects:
“The path from discovery to translation has taken 25 years,”
He added, “Such timeframes are not untypical in blue-skies plant research, but we do hope new technologies, such as AI and faster analytical techniques, can accelerate this process.”
This touch and go, long path process is a testament to the commitment and long-term vision needed to move science from labs into the hands of farmers.
A Sustainable Future for Agriculture
Experts agree that innovations such as T6P are indispensable to meeting the new and increasing demands of sustainable and productive agriculture. Professor Ben Davis highlighted the significance of directly manipulating molecular structures rather than relying solely on genetic modifications:
“This work provides an excellent example of a case where direct selective manipulation of key molecular structures, rather than genetics or gene editing, inside a living system is a game changer.”
Dr. Paul emphasized the need for ongoing innovation within the agricultural sector:
“We will need many more innovations like this to create sustainable and resilient agriculture in the coming decades. I am so grateful to my excellent people, co-workers and teams and for grants from UKRI-BBSRC which made this work possible. Getting this far has been hard work but extremely rewarding.”
Farmers are facing increasing stressors from climate change and an increasing global demand for food. Improvements such as T6P can lead to substantial productivity gains and help further sustainability goals.
