S25 - Session O3 - Agricultural bioproducts from African medicinal and aromatic plants

Authors: Musa Kisiriko *, Maria Anastasiadi, Leon Terry, Mansour Sobeh, Mike Beale, Jane Ward

Africa has the fastest growing population in the world, and this has put a strain on its agricultural sector to produce more food. There has consequently been more reliance on synthetic fertilisers and pesticides to increase yields and to protect crops against pests and pathogens respectively. However, there is now increasing advocacy for the use of natural and more sustainable options to synthetics. Biostimulants and Bioprotectants (Bioproducts) have gained appreciable recognition over the past few decades as ecologically friendly and potentially sustainable options derived from natural sources. Secondary metabolomes from plants, in particular medicinal and aromatic plants (MAPS) present major sources of bioactives. MAPs are abundant in arid areas of Morocco and potentially contain high proportions of secondary metabolites given that many of these compounds are produced in plants as a response to drought and nutrient stresses. Many of these species have not yet been assessed for their bioactive potential. This research seeks to develop novel bioproduct formulations from such plants that can be locally sourced and utilised in African agriculture. Extracts of selected MAPs from Morocco have been screened using NMR spectroscopy, LC-MS, and GC-MS to characterise the compounds comprising their polar and non-polar metabolomes. The crude extracts have been trialled in biostimulant and bioprotectant assays to get initial indications of bioactivity. In biostimulant tests, germination assays using wheat and pot experiments using tomatoes have been done. For bioprotectant assessment, antifungal assays on pathogens relevant to major African (Moroccan) crops have been carried out. In the preliminary results, a wide range of compounds including novel metabolites have been identified. Some extracts have shown potent biostimulation of physiological growth parameters of wheat and tomatoes. This presentation will discuss the key findings to date, future work, and other perspectives. This research project is funded by OCP Morocco