According to Ricardo Aroca, researcher of the CSIC at the Experimental Station of Zaidín (Granada), a vegetable plant, such as lettuce or tomato "can multiply by two, and even three times, its water use compared to a plant that has not been inoculated with this fungus. This was stated by this expert at the University of Navarra on the occasion of the XIII Spanish-Portuguese Symposium on water relations in plants, with the participation of 35 scientists from both countries.

The research team of Ricardo Aroca, graduate in Biology at the University of Navarra, focuses on horticultural crops -tomato, lettuce, beans- and also on corn and olives. "In these plants we study how mycorrhizal fungi -fungi that live in association with the roots of some plants- can increase tolerance to drought or salinity stress. And in fact, what we observed is that this association works: plants inoculated with these fungi absorb water and nutrients better. In particular, phosphorus, in addition to generating other positive effects on crops," explains the expert.

This improvement in the use of resources by plants can be vital for agriculture in countries and regions with water shortages: "Mycorrhizal fungi are already being used in the field and will be key in countries such as Spain. The problem is how to get them to remain in the soil, since there they compete with other established fungi, so we are working to find the fungi that best adapt to each crop and the characteristics of each soil.

award to research for Timac Agro

Regarding the future of agriculture, the CSIC expert emphasized the improvements that have already been made in the use of water, "with irrigation only where and when it is needed", tending towards "precision" agriculture, with remote sensing systems to optimize water resources, etc. However, he added that the logical thing to do continues to be "to use in each place those crops best adapted to those conditions. And try to use fewer resources (water and fertilizers) to produce the same, or less, but of better quality".

In the context of the Spanish-Portuguese symposium, the business Timac Agro presented the IX Iberian award of research in Water Relations, awarded for the contribution of the winners to the improvement of knowledge in this field.