Scientists of the new youth integration laboratory "Bioengineering" of the Novosibirsk State Technical University, NETI, will have to obtain a gel form of biofertilizers and develop a soil gas analyzer.
The University was among the winners of the competition of the Ministry of Science and Innovation Policy of the Novosibirsk Region for creating youth laboratories for the implementation of projects of the Siberian Biotechnological Research and Educational Center (SibbioScEC) at the expense of the regional budget. An application was submitted for the competition within the framework of the project "Biodegradable gels based on natural and synthetic polymers with the possibility of depositing bacteria and their metabolites useful for crop production". Elena Blinova, a junior researcher at the Center for Technological Excellence of NSTU NETI, Candidate of Biological Sciences headed the Youth Laboratory of NSTU NETI. The new laboratory brought together the efforts of young university scientists from such scientific fields as biology, chemistry and IT technology.
The developments of an interdisciplinary team of young scientists will allow solving a number of urgent problems in the field of agriculture. Thus, manufacturers in the agro-industrial sector face difficulties in storing and transporting liquid bacterial preparations. Scientists of NSTU NETI will develop a new, gel form of biofertilizers based on chemically modified polymers of natural origin. This form will ensure the safety of bacteria and their waste products, which will allow for a longer time to maintain the activity of biological products and increase their production. Scientists are planning to get a prototype of a gel form of biofertilizers by 2025.
"The advantage of the gel form of biofertilizers is to increase the shelf life, the root method of application, as well as the ability to use domestic materials for production — the product of processing crustacean shells," commented Elena Blinova, head of the laboratory.
An important part of the project of the NSTU NETI youth laboratory is the development of a stationary gas analyzer for soils.
"Due to the growing demand for biofertilizers, there is a request for simple and convenient test systems that allow us to assess changes in the soil in response to the introduced drugs. The express tests that exist today to determine the composition of soils, as a rule, are focused on the detection of chemical components. The determination of gases associated with natural processes in the soil can become a subtle tool for rational agriculture. The gas analyzer developed by the university team will have more sensitive sensors and a specialized data processing system," Elena Blinova noted the features of the development.