United States: Probiotics promote yield in berries

Blackcurrants are not exactly a staple item in the U.S., but one development in the crop, grown in the colder regions of Europe, may have implications for the future of other crops.Probiotics have become common and popular in recent years. They’ve mostly been used for promoting healthy gut bacteria in humans and animals. But researchers working with blackcurrants in Lithuania believe probiotics can improve productivity in fruits and vegetables too, reports The Economist(See here for the researchers’ article).Researchers Virgilija Gaveliene and Sigita Jurkoniene of the Institute of Botany Nature Research Center in Lithuania already knew that a carefully selected mix of bacteria from families such as Bacillus, Acinetobacter, and Pseudomona could improve production in blackberries and strawberries.The researchers took four hectares of blackcurrants. On the first, they sprayed bacteria that they suspected would improve growth and yield.On the second hectare, the researchers sprayed a ...