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Cold plasma treatment of wheat and canola for enhanced plant growth, vigour and yield

Cold plasma treatment of wheat and canola for enhanced plant growth, vigour and yield

Reference number: PROC-9177133

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Release date:: Wednesday 16 October 2024
Closing time:: Wednesday 27 November 2024, at 05:00 PM ACT local time
Enquiry deadline:: Wednesday 20 November 2024, at 05:00 PM ACT local time

Summary

Crop establishment is a critical phase in the production cycle as successful crop growth, development and yield are dependent on its success. Poor emergence and uneven establishment reduces crop growth and yield. During germination and emergence seeds may be subject to stresses such as soil water availability, soil-borne pathogens and pests. Similarly growing plants are also exposed to biotic and abiotic stresses. Finding ways to mitigate these negative impacts and potentially increasing yields offers growers a means of reducing their reliance on chemical products and achieving greater profitability. The use of cold plasma (CP) technology in this regard offers such a solution.

Offer period

Offers will remain open for acceptance by the GRDC for a period of 6 months after the Closing Time.

Document contact and enquiries

Attention: Kim Gilbert
Grains Research and Development Corporation
Email: tenders@grdc.com.au

Make all requests for further information or clarification in relation to this procurement in writing (email) prior to 20 November 2024.

GRDC will publish all requests and responses to requests on the GRDC website under Questions and Answers at the bottom of this webpage.

Consortia response

GRDC will not accept Tenders from Consortia.

Lodgement of Tender

Submit your Tender response electronically through the Grains Investment Portal.

AusTender

https://www.tenders.gov.au/Advert/Show/ab96eda9-6c8f-4e6a-bc23-b5da7ae8ea58

Description

CP is also known as low temperature, atmospheric or non-thermal plasma, and is formed through the ionisation of a gas (including air) using an electric current, radio frequency or microwave energy. CP can also be fed through water to create plasma activated water, enabling liquid application. The potential use of CP technology in crop production offers an environmentally friendly new path both for seed treatment and application during plant growth which could improve grain yield.

International research undertaken suggests wheat yield gains varying between 6% and 61% with the application of CP. Relatively few field studies of CP technology in crop production have however been undertaken. This investment will focus on field evaluation of applying CP (generated from air) and plasma activated water to a wheat and canola crop. Both seed treatment and CP application to developing plants will be evaluated over a range of agro-ecological production zones. Additionally, glasshouse trials will be undertaken using pure gases (such as oxygen, nitrogen and helium) as well as air for cold plasma generation. This investment is aimed at determining what the yield and associated economic benefit would be in Australian broadacre agriculture; more specifically in canola and wheat production.

Outcome

Outputs

Output	Description
Output 1 By June 2028, field and glasshouse data is collected and analysed to assess the agronomic impact of cold plasma treatment of wheat and canola seed	Glasshouse and small plot field trials will be conducted comparing the use of cold plasma treated seed with untreated seed. Air as well as pure gases such as oxygen, nitrogen and helium will be used for cold plasma generation in the glasshouse experiments. Only CP generated from air will be in the field experiments. The flow rate, power level (wattage) and optimum duration of cold plasma treatment will be determined to remove surface contamination while maintaining seed viability. Wheat and canola seed will be assessed along with wheat in the glasshouse experiments. Wheat and canola will also be used in the field experiments. The impact of cold plasma on emergence, subsequent crop growth and yield and quality will be assessed over three winter cropping seasons. The cold plasma will be tested as either the sole seed treatment or used in combination with existing seed treatments at seeding. An assessment of soil-borne and leaf disease prevalence and incidence will also be made.
Output 2 By June 2028, field data is collected and analysed to assess the agronomic impact of plasma activated water on wheat and canola seed and developing plants.	Glasshouse and small plot field trials will be conducted comparing untreated seed or plants with the use of plasma activated water for in-furrow seed treatment and for spray application to the developing crop. Air as well as pure gases such as oxygen, nitrogen and helium will be used for cold plasma generation in the glasshouse experiments. Only CP generated from air will be in the field experiments. Aspects such as treatment time of the water, power level (wattage) used and volume of water that can be treated and longevity of the treatment will be assessed. This will contribute to determining the efficacy of the technology. The impact of plasma activated water on emergence, subsequent crop growth and yield will be assessed over three winter cropping seasons. Spray application to the developing crop will be assessed at different growth stages. The plasma activated water will be tested as either the sole treatment or used in combination with existing chemical and fertiliser treatments. The impact of water quality on the efficacy of plasma activated water will also be assessed in these experiments.
Output 3 By June 2028, the economic value of cold plasma or plasma-activated water treatment is fully assessed.	A detailed economic analysis of the two types of cold plasma treatment will be completed. The economic analysis will provide a definitive answer as to whether this technology should be pursued for implementation by growers. The analysis will be presented in a grower friendly format and include a potential adoption pathway if implementation of the technology is economically sound.

Output

Description

Output 1

By June 2028, field and glasshouse data is collected and analysed to assess the agronomic impact of cold plasma treatment of wheat and canola seed

Glasshouse and small plot field trials will be conducted comparing the use of cold plasma treated seed with untreated seed. Air as well as pure gases such as oxygen, nitrogen and helium will be used for cold plasma generation in the glasshouse experiments. Only CP generated from air will be in the field experiments. The flow rate, power level (wattage) and optimum duration of cold plasma treatment will be determined to remove surface contamination while maintaining seed viability. Wheat and canola seed will be assessed along with wheat in the glasshouse experiments. Wheat and canola will also be used in the field experiments. The impact of cold plasma on emergence, subsequent crop growth and yield and quality will be assessed over three winter cropping seasons. The cold plasma will be tested as either the sole seed treatment or used in combination with existing seed treatments at seeding. An assessment of soil-borne and leaf disease prevalence and incidence will also be made.

Output 2

By June 2028, field data is collected and analysed to assess the agronomic impact of plasma activated water on wheat and canola seed and developing plants.

Glasshouse and small plot field trials will be conducted comparing untreated seed or plants with the use of plasma activated water for in-furrow seed treatment and for spray application to the developing crop. Air as well as pure gases such as oxygen, nitrogen and helium will be used for cold plasma generation in the glasshouse experiments. Only CP generated from air will be in the field experiments. Aspects such as treatment time of the water, power level (wattage) used and volume of water that can be treated and longevity of the treatment will be assessed. This will contribute to determining the efficacy of the technology. The impact of plasma activated water on emergence, subsequent crop growth and yield will be assessed over three winter cropping seasons. Spray application to the developing crop will be assessed at different growth stages. The plasma activated water will be tested as either the sole treatment or used in combination with existing chemical and fertiliser treatments. The impact of water quality on the efficacy of plasma activated water will also be assessed in these experiments.

Output 3

By June 2028, the economic value of cold plasma or plasma-activated water treatment is fully assessed.

A detailed economic analysis of the two types of cold plasma treatment will be completed.

The economic analysis will provide a definitive answer as to whether this technology should be pursued for implementation by growers. The analysis will be presented in a grower friendly format and include a potential adoption pathway if implementation of the technology is economically sound.

Proposed Budget

Proposed Contract & Term

GRDC will contract under the terms of the GRDC Standard Two-Party Research Contract.

The schedule(s) attached to the contract will detail the project details: the outcomes, outputs, milestones, budget, participating personnel and required intellectual property.

The template contract containing the proposed Terms and Conditions is available on the Application resources page on the GRDC website.

It is anticipated that any resultant contract in relation to this procurement will commence with a proposed term of 41 months.

Conditions for Participation

The following are mandatory conditions with which a Tenderer must comply to participate in this procurement process:

The Tenderer must be a single legal entity or recognised firm of partners
The Tenderer and any proposed subcontractor must be compliant with the Workplace Gender Equality Act 2012, the Modern Slavery Act 2018 and any other applicable labour laws and standards in the jurisdiction in which they operate.
The Tenderer and any subcontractor must not have a judicial decision against it (not including decisions under appeal) relating to employee entitlements and who have not paid the claim.
The Tenderer and any subcontractor must not be named on the Consolidated List, being the list of persons and entities who are subject to targeted financial sanctions or travel bans under Australian sanction laws, as maintained by the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade.

Minimum Form and Content Requirements

The following are the mandatory content and format requirements that the Tenderer must complete and provide to participate in this procurement process:

Submit Tenders using the Grains Investment Portal.
Write Tenders in English and express any measurements in Australian legal units of measurement.
Budget details must be submitted on the ‘GRDC Budget Template’ provided in the Grains Investment Portal.

Evaluation Criteria

In the table below are the Evaluation Criteria that the Tender Evaluation Team will use to assess the value for money of all Tenders.

No	Type	Weighting
1	Technical – Qualitative evaluation criteria related to non-price factors such as methodology, project plan, track record, experience.
1a	Demonstrated track record of the project team, including: a) relevant achievements of the project leader in providing leadership, co-ordination, management, monitoring and evaluation and the timely delivery of high quality outputs b) relevant technical knowledge and experience of all key personnel (including proposed subcontractors) in the research area	25%
1b	A clear and thorough plan to achieve the project outputs, specifying: a) methods to be used for glasshouse and field trails (including proposed trial design approach, statistical, and economic analysis capacity) b) proposed milestones related to each of the three outputs c) proposed locations of field experiments d) staffing (including relevant skills, experience and availability of key personnel and proposed subcontractors) e) budget (defining the funds sought, indicating salary costs, travel costs, operating costs, and capital costs in each year of the project and the potential co-investment from all parties) f) project structure and management arrangements	50%
1c	An overview of your approach to data management in accordance with GRDC RD&E Data Management Guidelines, including: existing data that you intend to use during the project and any potential restrictions on its use, including in publication or commercialisation of the intended project outputs how all data will be managed during the investment new valuable data that will be created during the project and the Approved Repository where it will be stored. Note: We recommend searching the GRDC Data Catalogue for data that could be used in your proposed work, either by negating the need to generate new data or by adding to analyses being carried out.	15%
1d	Evidence of the ability and experience to deliver similar investment outcomes and outputs, including details of previous relevant project/s where the organisation has: met contractual obligations managed and designed experiments managed sub-contractors collaborated with relevant organisations and industry (national and/or international) to build on the work already undertaken in this area achieved impact. Note: include details of the impact.	10%
2	Price - The tendered budget.	N/A
3	Risk - Risks inherent in the application including the degree of compliance with the draft contract and any actual or perceived conflict of interest.	N/A
4	Australian economy - The economic benefit of the procurement to the Australian economy.	N/A

Lodging a Tender

Questions and Answers

Q1. Regarding the scope, we have experience working with other RDCs on specialist impact and adoption projects alongside technical work.

This includes collaborating with the chosen technical delivery partner to develop and implement adoption pathways and bridging the gap between research outputs and grower/industry adoption.

Would this be considered within the scope of the procurement process for the RFT?

A1. While the adoption of technology is extremely important the primary focus of this project is the technical and economic aspects of cold plasma technology usage.

Q2. Can GRDC please provide advice on the scope of trials (regional / national coverage etc)?

A2. Ideally the trial sites chosen should include all the GRDC regions.

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