UMass Amherst and LidoChem signed the exclusive license agreement for microorganism

A recent exclusive license agreement between the University of Massachusetts Amherst(UMass Amherst) and LidoChem, Inc., a New Jersey-based wholesale turf and agricultural nutrient supply firm, means a fungus-fighting bacterium (Bacillus amyloliquifaciens)discovered and developed by Haim Gunner, UMass Amherst professor emeritus of environmental sciences, will now be marketed nationally as part of an eco-management approach to plant disease protection.

B. amyloliquifaciens is a very effective seed treatment for soybeans, corn and potentially other crops, Gunner says. “It gives the plant an earlier start and provides early protection against pathogen attack.” One of a group of plant-growth-promoting rhizobacteria, it secretes a wide range of enzymes and growth stimulating hormones in the plant root zone, the rhizosphere, he adds, where it not only stimulates growth but protects roots from pathogens.

LidoChem, Inc. obtained a license from UMass Amherst to use B. amyloliquifaciens in its products as part of an ecosystem management approach. The company now distributes the microorganism to turf managers and agricultural growers among a number of products, and as a component of a proprietary plant soil treatment system.

In his current program of research and product development for LidoChem, Gunner is now testing B. amyloliquifaciens’ capacity to suppress nematodes, roundworms found in soil, that attack virtually every economically important crop.