Ontario – Timmins – Timmins
Corporation
www.mikro-tek.com
Ontario
Timmins
Timmins
Corporation
active
Mikro-Tek is an environmental biotechnology firm which produces
a range of naturally-occurring soil micro-organisms called
mycorrhizal fungi. These fungi reduce the need for chemicals
and fertilizers and provide a natural, biological means of
improving survival, growth rate and health of plants by increasing the plant's resistance to stress and soil-borne pathogens. Our target markets include forestry, agriculture and land reclamation.
Under normal conditions, adequate mycorrhizae occur naturally. However, many industrial sites such as forestry cutovers, heavily used agricultural soils, nutrient-poor mine waste materials, or sites where natural topsoil has been over used, disturbed or eroded away, are deficient. In these cases, specifically chosen micro-organisms are reintroduced to the soil to enhance the health and growth rates of the target plant community.
Research has shown that the type and amount of benefit to a plant depends on the species and strain of mycorrhizal fungi that infect it. There are literally thousands of species, some showing little or no benefit to the plant, often referred to as €œweed€? species. Beneficial strains of mycorrhizal fungi establish a symbiotic association with the plant, providing it with an expanded root zone to help it access more water and nutrients from the soil. Mikro-Tek isolates these species from plant communities that have naturally adapted to the soil and climatic conditions of specific sites. They are then cultured, mass-produced, and inoculated onto the seedling's root zone in the nursery before out-planting, or directly into the seeding bed at the time of planting, to ensure establishment before the plant€™s exposure to pathogens, environmental stresses, poor soil conditions, and competing non-beneficial mycorrhizal fungi.
In the Canadian Boreal forest, growth data from ten million conifer seedlings showed average growth and survival increases of 25% due to mycorrhizal inoculation. This data was used to register our commercial products with Agriculture Canada. Trials in Chile, with one million inoculated seedlings, showed average first year growth and survival increases of 47% for Eucalyptus, 85% for Radiata Pine, and 119% for Quillay (a native species). These growth increases carry corresponding increases in carbon sequestration. Through photosynthesis plants remove carbon dioxide (CO2) from the atmosphere, produce oxygen, and store the carbon as biomass. Since 50% of the dry matter of a plant is carbon, any increase in plant growth results in a corresponding increase in CO2 sequestered from the atmosphere. Mikro-Tek has now developed a new investment vehicle called C-Trade, to help industry meet their greenhouse gas reduction commitments. Large Final Emitters have the opportunity to invest in a pool of our aggregated sequestration projects to offset their industrial carbon emissions.
Country of Ownership: Canada
Year Established: 1983
Exporting: Yes
Primary Industry (NAICS): 541710 - Research and Development in the Physical, Engineering and Life Sciences
Primary Business Activity: Services
Number of Employees: 6
Services:
Environmental consultant - biological and ecosystem studies, Environmental consultant - field sampling and monitoring, Environmental consultant - laboratory testing and analysis, Environmental consultant - research, Environmental consultant - site assessment, Environmental consultant - technology brokerage, Environmental consultant - waste treatment, Environmental consultant - silviculture and other forestry, Environmental consultant - erosion control/landslide protection, Environmental consultant - mine tailings, Environmental consultant - site/land reclamations, Environmental consultant - soil and groundwater, Environmental consultant - stormwater runoff, Environmental consultant - waste handling-mine tailings, Environmental consultant - waste handling-bioremediation, Environmental consultant - recycling plant-biomass, Carbon emission offsets, carbon credits
Products:
Mycorrhizal inoculum, Environmental products and services, Inoculation with naturally occurring symbiotic microorganisms, Natural plant bio-systems., Mycorrhizal inoculation of seedlings
Technology:
Mikro-Tek's proprietary culture bank stores an extensive
colletion of microbes from a range of geographic and site
conditions. From this collection, various and often multiple
strains are matched to the host plant species to ensure best
performance. The chosen microbes are cultured and mass-produced
using fermentation or proprietary biomass production procedures.
Mikro-CONE for conifer silviculture projects is applied in pure
liquid form to the seedlings' root zone in the forestry nursery.
Agri-VAM for most horticultural and agricultural crops, and
Mikro-VAM for most broad leafed trees and grasses, are added
directly to the seed bed in the form of Mikro-Beads or coated
onto the seed before planting.
Sector:
Unique Applications: From 1997 to 1999 Mikro-Tek inoculated 10 million forestry seedlings with selected strains of naturally-occurring mycorrhizal fungi and planted them across a range of sites in the Canadian Boreal forests. The results of these field trials showed an average increase in survival and/or growth of 25%. These field results were used to obtain product registration as a Microbial Supplement, under the Fertilizers Act from Agriculture Canada, certifying that the claims made are accurate and the product is safe for commercial use.
In 1999 Mikro-Tek implemented a carbon sequestration research project under Industry Canada€™s Climate Change Technology Early Action Measures (TEAM) to demonstrate and assess the technology€™s application in Chilean forestry projects. Indigenous species and strains of mycorrhiza were collected in Chile, cultured, screened, and compared for maximum effectiveness to other strains in the culture bank. The mycorrhizal species and strains that provided the best increase in moisture and nutrient uptake for the targeted host tree species were then mass-produced using specialized biotechnology procedures developed by Mikro-Tek. A total of one million seedlings were inoculated with their corresponding mycorrhiza in the nursery, and in 2001 the seedlings were planted on a number of sites in various regions of Chile to compare field performance between inoculated and control plots. These seedlings will be measured periodically to monitor the actual increase in growth over their entire rotation. Field measurements have shown statistical increases in growth from 23% to 70% for Eucalyptus, 41% to 128% for Radiata pine, and 113% to 125% for Quillay. This research documented the feasibility of incorporating mycorrhizal inoculation to increase survival and growth for afforestation projects on marginal land under Kyoto Protocol€™s Clean Development Mechanism.
Subsequently, TEAM contracted an independent assessment of the technology€™s impact on carbon sequestration. Field data from both Canadian and Chilean sites were assessed and the resulting increases in carbon sequestration were modeled to ensure that this technology is scientifically verifiable using Kyoto Protocol guidelines. The report showed that Mikro-Tek€™s mycorrhizal strains and inoculation procedures had, to that date, resulted in the sequestration of an estimated additional 308 ktCO2e in Canada, and 56 ktCO2e in Chile. As part of this assessment, a methodology was developed to measure the volume of wood produced on each site, convert that volume into the various carbon pools, and develop projections to model the total carbon sequestration potential of the specific tree species on that site. This SMART report (System for Measuring and Reporting to TEAM) can now be used as the model for monitoring and verification of Mikro-Tek€™s CDM projects by incorporating actual data from the specific baseline, tree species, project type, size etc.
Mikro-Tek is now in the second year of a three-year contract with Sustainable Development Technology Canada to expand their technology applications to include agricultural and land reclamation sectors.
Kean Mark
Wood Marilyn
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