Crops

Yield and quality is the measure of a successful crop and research illustrates that Beauveria bassiana (Bb) measures up to potential in any given year.  Measuring germination, vegetative growth, leaf chlorophyll, leaf size, stem height, root mass, disease resistance, and resistance to insect feeding become determining values.  However, these measurements are not easy to see unless you look for them. Researchers do just that to further scientific explanation adding to our understanding.

Most farms rely upon visual measures without sophisticated instruments or repetitive plots for confirming the benefits of the practice.  Monitoring the growing crop by counting plant emergence, carefully digging roots, viewing through a magnifying glass, looking for the absence of disease, looking for predatory insects, counting seed pods, and observing pollinators can be challenging.  Without comparing a treated crop to a non-treatment and recording the growing conditions, it is easy to miss symbiotic benefits.

Researchers worldwide have convincing evidence this symbiotic relationship exists and offers innovative food production with much less chemical intervention.

Soil sustainability is more than conserving soil or preventing erosion.  It also includes preserving microorganisms from losses, since they contribute significantly to soil structure, plant resources, and plant health. The greatest number of those organisms are in the top 2-3 cm.  Soil beneficial bacteria, fungi, worms, and insects all need food.  Auxins are plant hormones regulating plant growth.  Bb produces a minor amount that influences leaf chlorophyll and contributes to the food reservoir below the soil surface.  A plant influences which hungry organisms get fed by the kinds of chemistry released through root hairs.  Thus, what happens at the leaf influences survival below the soil surface.  Estimates as high as 40% of the carbohydrates produced through photosynthesis support the soil biome.  In addition, since Bb colonies are formed throughout the plant (leaf, stem, and root); Bb becomes a vigilant sentinel.  Bb within the leaf communicates a warning to a variety of leaf-feeding insects in addition to the host plants’ systemic resistance.  At the meristem (root tip) colony mycelia extend outside acting to block entry to several plant patswineens.  Some of which threaten our own food safety.  While beneficial secondary metabolites can be found within cultures of Beauveria bassiana, its real contribution to health and the environment is presented.

Overall, our cultivated plant foods work with nature and depend upon a complex number of organisms that are essential.  Beauveria bassiana is as important to a successful harvest as the care and management you provide.  The presence of Bb within its host is microscopic.  It can be cultured with well-defined laboratory procedures taking up to 14 days before character identification.  These time-consuming observations began in 1835 and continue today with greatly improved methods.