Tomato rhizobiome project features in Greenhouse Canada
A UNE team’s groundbreaking research for Costa Group into hydoponic tomatoes’ root-zone microbes has garnered international media attention.
A UNE team’s groundbreaking research for Costa Group into hydoponic tomatoes’ root-zone microbes has garnered international media attention.
The ‘Tomato rhizobiome project’, designed to find ways to foster robust microbial colonies in the root zones of hydroponic greenhouse tomato plants, is proceeding well, with initial findings ‘very promising’, says industry partner Costa Group.
For Dr Gal Winter, lecturer and microbiologist at northern NSW’s University of New England, studying the ecology of microbe colonies – most recently, those surrounding tomato plant roots – has been a cross-continental endeavour.
Hydroponic tomato grower Costa Group and scientists at UNE and WSU will explore microbial diversity in tomatoes’ root zones in a bid to find novel ways to combat disease in humid glasshouse environs.