A fast method to evaluate in a combinatorial manner the synergistic effect of different biostimulants for promoting growth or tolerance against abiotic stress

[EN] Background: According to the most popular defnition, a biostimulant is any substance or microorganism applied to plants with the aim to enhance nutrition efciency, abiotic stress tolerance and/or crop quality traits, regardless of its nutrient content. Therefore, a biostimulant can help crops to withstand abiotic stress, while maintaining or even increasing productivity. We have previously designed a sequential system, based on two diferent model organisms, the baker¿s yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae and the plant Arabidopsis thaliana, to evaluate the potential of diferent natural extracts as biostimulants employing a blind-test strategy. Results: In this report, we further expand this concept to evaluate diferent biostimulants in a combinatorial approach to reveal the potential additive, synergistic or antagonistic efects of diferent combinations of biostimulants in order to design new formulations with enhanced efects on plant growth or tolerance to abiotic stress. The method is based on yeast assays (growth tests in solid medium, and continuous growth in liquid cultures) and plant assays (mass accumulation in hydroponic culture) to assess efects on early growth. Conclusions: With this novel approach, we have designed new formulations and quantifed the ability to enhance growth and promote biomass accumulation under normal conditions and in the presence of abiotic stresses, such as drought, salinity or cold. This method enables a fast screen of many diferent products in a combinatorial manner, in order to design novel formulations of natural extracts with biostimulant potential. This investigation was funded by the CDTI program project EXP 00137666/IDI-20210456. awarded to CALDIC Iberica S.L. and the research contract. "DESARROLLO DE FORMULADOS BIOESTIMULANTES Y BIOFERTILIZANTES INNOVADORES DE ORIGEN NATURAL (CALBIO) DESTINADOS A LA AGRICULTURA CONVENCIONAL Y ECOLOGICA. ESTUDIO CIENTIFICO DE EFECTOS SINERGICOS ENTRE BIOACTIVOS MICROBIANOS Y NO MICROBIANOS" Between CALDIC Iberica S.L. and Universitat Politecnica de Valencia. Benito, P.; Ligorio, D.; Bellón, J.; Yenush, L.; Mulet, JM. (2022). A fast method to evaluate in a combinatorial manner the synergistic effect of different biostimulants for promoting growth or tolerance against abiotic stress. Plant Methods. 18(1):1-17. https://doi.org/10.1186/s13007-022-00943-6 FAO. High level experts forum-how to feed the world in 2050. Rome; 2012. Pingali PL. Green revolution: impacts, limits, and the path ahe