Grant: Applied Research and Development Grants - Level 2

Van Belle Nursery Inc. will partner with the Institute for Sustainable Horticulture (ISH) at Kwantlen Polytechnic University to develop a new Trichoderma-based biofungicide to control soil-borne plant diseases in their nursery production business. The biofungicidal activity of a collection of native Trichoderma isolates (beneficial fungi) has been under study since 2011 at ISH and a number have demonstrated efficacy against a range of soil-borne plant pathogens. An NSERC Engage (ARD I) project began the work to identify specific isolates for development into a biofungicide custom blended for Van Belle. Since that project, ISH has continued to learn more about its Trichoderma isolates, and this current ARD II project follows up all earlier work with the objective of completing the circle from discovery to registration for a new biofungicide. The new product will be first used exclusively by Van Belle in their production to increase productivity and reduce the impact of soil-borne pathogens. Once this new product is registered, the next step will be commercialization of the biofungicide for use beyond the industry partner. The present project will make this possible.