MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Mercosur researchers create robot to identify drought and disease resistant soybeans

As the world’s leading soy exporter, Mercosur also wants a biotechnological edge

A robot which categorizes soy bean plants according to their capacity to resist drought and make better use of the water resource has been developed by a bio-technology group of Mercosur researchers in Argentina, with European Union support.

“Our objective was that the characterization of phenotypes and the search for genes more tolerant to drought, and more efficient in the use of water, a limited resource, would allow us to develop a soy bean cultivated in an environment with lesser rainfall which today are almost unproductive”, said Atilio Castagnaro, head agronomist from the Obispo Colombres, Tucuman, Agro-Industry Experimental Station which coordinates the BiotecSojaSur project. (Biotechnology soy bean)

The project is considered essential to make Mercosur not only the region with the largest soybean production, but also a leader in agro-industry technology.

The automatic platform that gauges the different genotypes (group of plants with similar genetic conformation, was created and developed by a team at the Argentine National Council for Scientific and Technical Research, Conicet).

“The great outcome of this project, BiotecSojaSur is having been able to build a robot or automatic platform for the massive assessment of soy bean genotypes referred to their capacity to tolerate a hydro deficit or drought”, said Castagnaro.

Everyday the robot checks simultaneously 120 pots with soy bean plants, and determines their hydro consumption, waters them with the precise volume and takes stereoscopic pictures to document growth.

“Among the practical technical results, besides scientific and theoretical advances, the project created a virtual lab not only through the computer but also through a network of info and resources exchange which actually works and helps with the hurdle of restrictions related to the introduction of live organisms from one country to another”, added Castagnaro.

Besides, new soy-genes have been identified related to resistance to the most common diseases affecting soy bean plantations.

The automatic platform is located in Balcarce, Buenos Aires province and works together with the Agriculture Department from the Mar del Plata University and the Argentine Agriculture Technology Institute.

“Given the originality of the automatic platform, and the inventive capacity assessment, we have requested a patent in the name of the 14 groups involved in the project, plus the fact it is not that sophisticated to replicate”, said Castagnaro.

“We are increasing the added value of the crop which is crucial for the region since Mercosur is not only the area of the world which most soybean harvests, but also to dominate the biotech of this cultivation”.

The project was born in 2007 under the BiotecSojaSur umbrella and partially financed by the EU as a Mercosur undertaking.

The potential beneficiaries of the patent include Argentine, Brazilian, Paraguayan and Uruguayan research groups plus two private companies. Government institutions involved include the universities of Buenos Aires, Asuncion (Paraguay), Rio Grande do Sul (Brazil), Uruguay’s National University and the Agriculture technology research centres of the four countries.