In April 2024 the field activities of the project were initiated and the ICGEB team headed to Basiliano (province of Udine) to conduct a pilot study. There were two main objectives: determining the amount of rhizospheric microbial biomass obtainable from a specific quantity of roots and exploring methods for preserving the rhizosphere to maximize biodiversity recovery, including bacteria and fungi.
The barley plants, chosen as a model crop for the Cedric project, were harvested, from the densely populated field, to recover the rhizosphere (the microbial flora that inhabits the portion of soil in close contact with the root; less than 2mm). The team chose to collect large clods containing multiple plants to better preserve the entire rhizospheric system during transportation and laboratory processing.
Once in the lab, the material was divided into three parts and different strategies were implemented for the recovery of the rhizosphere. The concentration of cultivable bacteria in each group of samples was measured at time 0 (immediately after recovering) and after 7 days. This pilot study was the base of the protocol developed for the sampling activities that will be conducted in May and June 2024.