FEDER - UNICAEN (EVA LAB) - ALGOEVA PROJECT
Kohesio
UNIVERSITE DE CAEN NORMANDIE
Over the past fifteen years, it has been established that anthropogenic activities combined with natural climatic factors lead to an acceleration of changes in agricultural crop conditions. As a result of these disturbances, plants undergo higher intensity abiotic stress. However, abiotic stresses (extreme temperatures, high salinity, drought, flooding, excess heavy metals, oxidative stress) are the leading cause of loss of agricultural production yields worldwide. In a global context where the challenge of tomorrow is to produce enough to feed an exponential world population, it is a question of innovating in techniques and products intended for agriculture while regulating and legislating effectively to ensure healthy and sustainable development of agricultural production throughout the world. The use of biostimulants is one of the innovative methods allowing sustainable production by limiting the supply of inputs (fertilizers, phytosanitary products). By definition, biostimulants are organic compounds that improve the growth and development of plants. Companies developing in this field need to have precise and rapid tools (bioassays) to test new molecules or extracts and understand their mechanisms of action to guarantee their effectiveness for producers while meeting the requirements of legislators. At the European level, a special council made up of biostimulant producers (EBIC) was created in 2011 to respond to this demand at the legislative and commercial level. Several companies producing algae extracts, including ALGAIA, collaborate within the EBIC on analytical and formulation aspects. Indeed, algae have been used for several generations to improve the performance and quality of plants. Among the molecules isolated from distinct algae sources, some (polysaccharides, mannitol, hormones, antioxidant compounds, etc.) have biostimulating properties. Algae also represent a source of molecules (dextran sulfate, heparin, sulfoevernan, fucoidans, etc.) with antiviral and antibacterial activities. Viral and bacterial infections constitute a major health risk for equines and cause significant economic losses for the equine industry. Thus, the Equine Viral Arteritis (AVE) virus persists in 30 to 70% of infected stallions in the accessory glands of the reproductive system. The virus is excreted in semen. These excretory standards constitute the reservoir of the virus, but no specific treatment allowing the elimination of the virus is currently available. Likewise, no effective vaccine or treatment is available to combat the Equine Infectious Anemia (EIA) retrovirus, which remains a major health concern since infected horses must be euthanized. In the equine industry, bacterial infections are frequent and serious, particularly in young animals. Depending on the age class, they are responsible for 20 to 50% of mortality cases in Normandy equines. In recent years, the intensive use of antibiotics has led to a sharp increase in resistant bacterial populations, with consequences both economic (costly treatments) and public health (possible transmission of multi-resistant strains from animals to humans). Resistance has already been described in certain pathogenic or commensal bacteria in horses such as enterobacteria, enterococci and staphylococci. Certain bacteria could ultimately become resistant to all molecules in the veterinary therapeutic arsenal. This prospect is all the more worrying as innovation in antibiotic molecules is now very limited, hence the need to develop alternative treatments.
Smarter Europe / Research and innovation / Research and innovation activities in public research centres and centres of competence including networking