IIT Kanpur-developed nanoparticles can protect crops from disease, infection

Bio-Degradable-Carbonoid-Metabolite (BioDCM) can be used as an effective organic antimicrobial agent and carbonaceous degradable encompassing to protect crops.

Researchers at the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Kanpur have developed a novel nanoparticle-based Bio-Degradable-Carbonoid-Metabolite (BioDCM) that can protect agricultural crops from fungal and bacterial infections. 

The research team led by Santosh K Misra and Piyush Kumar from the Department of Biological Sciences & Bioengineering, IIT Kanpur, developed the technology in collaboration with C Kannan and Divya Mishra from ICAR-Indian Institute of Rice Research, and R Balamurugan and Mou Mandal from the School of Chemistry, University of Hyderabad. 

Last year, of the total 107 patents filed by the institute, one invention was the Bhu-Parikshak soil-testing device that has proven to significantly reduce the time and hassle required for testing soil in the lab. 

IIT Kanpur Director Abhay Karandikar said, “As the problems faced by the farmers are multi-fold, our efforts have been to enrich the whole ecosystem of farming, in general. In that regard, the invention of these novel nanoparticles would lessen the worries of crop infection and give boost to crop yield.” 

Biological alternative to enhance crop protection against diseases 

The technology is a protective biological alternative that can be used to enhance crop protection against various diseases in agricultural field, especially for rice crops.  

It is developed as a bio-degradable nanoparticle system with a metabolite – the end-product of metabolism or the process of conversion of food, extracted from the naturally occurring common soil fungi viz., Trichoderma asperellum Strain TALK1.  This extracted metabolite can be used as an effective organic antimicrobial agent and carbonaceous degradable encompassing to provide protection against crop diseases and enrichment of soil, respectively. 

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