The 7th New Ag International Conference & Exhibition

In plant life cycle transplanting is one of the most stressful phases, especially if an environmental stress factor occurs within the following days. Plant’s ability to establish itself and settle down after transplanting depends on its adaptive response to changing environmental factors. This response is the result of changes in gene expression that are related to the mechanisms activated by the plant to withstand stress. Inicium® is a totally natural product based on characterized peptides of low molecular weight, with a very high root activity which has been especially developed by the R&D Department of Bioiberica, S.A. to overcome transplantation stress. One of the objectives of this communication is to show the Inicium’s action mechanism on plants after transplant. This approach was carried out by measuring the expression of proteins that act on transplant-related stress and favour rooting. The determination of the expression of these defensive response markers was tested in tomato plants under controlled conditions. The application of Inicium® after transplanting induced the expression of defence proteins (PRs) such as PR-2 (glucanase) and PR-3 (chitinase), which play a key role in plant pathogen control and plant development. These results conclude that both PR-2 and PR-3 are good markers to visualize the effect of Inicium®, providing a greater expression for the plants treated with this product. Finally, the second part of this work consist in verifying product’s efficacy on plants, its optimal field doses and to check its ability to enhance defensive response after transplanting, providing precociousness as well as an increase in crop yield.