In the third year of the BOOSTER project, CPSBB experiments are being held in field conditions to evaluate the effect of brown seaweed biostimulants on maize crops

For the third consecutive year since the launch of the BOOSTER project, Dr. Aakansha Kanojia, a researcher at CPSBB, has been investigating the effect of biostimulants developed from seaweed extracts to enhance maize drought tolerance and increase crop yield.

Greenhouse experiments carried out within the framework of the international project demonstrated excellent results following the application of the investigated organic biostimulants. The next stage is to validate these findings under real field conditions. Field trials are underway and will provide valuable insights for the development of environmentally sustainable solutions to help agriculture adapt to climate change.

The BOOSTER project brings together the scientific expertise of an international consortium comprising 14 research institutes and companies from Bulgaria (CPSBB), Belgium, Germany, Ethiopia, Ireland, Italy, Spain, South Africa, Switzerland, and the United States. The consortium’s research is focused on developing practical solutions for agriculture by increasing the productivity of maize and teff through innovative strategies to improve their drought tolerance.

The project combines two complementary approaches: identifying key regulators of drought tolerance using advanced molecular analyses, as well as developing novel organic biostimulants derived from living organisms. By harnessing naturally occurring genetic variation alongside bio-based biostimulants, the researchers aim to provide farmers with new drought-resilient maize and teff varieties capable of maintaining productivity under increasingly challenging climatic conditions.