The thematic area of the project proposal is in the field of functional foods for the maintenance of human health, in line with research theme 5.1.6 Functional foods for the maintenance of human health and disease prevention, Domain 5: Agriculture, Food Safety and Security.

The overall objective of the project is to develop multifunctional and innovative products for the protection of nutraceutical plants newly introduced in Romania (Momordica charantia, Passiflora incarnata) and concomitant stimulation of the formation of biologically active compounds in them at safe levels and with reproducible biological effects. The specific innovative objectives of the project are: 1. the development of multifunctional products for controlled-release in-growth and soil treatments based on: (a) consortia of Trichoderma strains; (b) porous ceramics with high bioavailability of silica; (c) essential oils embedded in mesoporous silica; 2. Product testing, development of application methods and their integration in sustainable nutraceutical plant cultivation technology; 3. Characterisation of functional foods by alternative in vitro tests on human cell cultures and highlighting the biological role in animal cells of the forms of silicon accumulated in treated plants; 4. Valorisation of the results through intellectual property protection of innovative solutions after techno-economic analysis of the results and opportunities for exploitation.

Products based on consortia of Trichoderma and essential oils have multiple actions: plant protection agents against biotic stresses (phytopathogens, pests); elicitors of the plant defence response; agents that limit the negative effects of ethylene on roots and stimulate the uptake and utilisation of nutrients, especially nitrogen, by plants.

Porous ceramics, also containing silicaxerogel, applied as a soil treatment, function as a matrix for the controlled release of highly bioavailable nutrients to plants and are intended to compensate for the loss of metabolic energy of plants due to the synthesis of secondary metabolites and to provide highly bioavailable orthosilicates.

Silica, with high bioavailability, also provides the mesoporous silica used as a carrier for the controlled release of essential oils. The role of silica as an important element for plants is the concomitant and non-antagonistic activation and balancing of different pathways of the plant defence system, the biosynthesis of stress hormones: salicylic acid, jasmonic acid and ethylene/abscisic acid in plant pathosystems.

The project proposes, for the first time, to study the interaction between treatments with silica, Trichoderma and essential oils, which are multi-functional protective agents that also activate the defence response in plants. It is the first proposal that aims to produce products with direct practical applicability, in which silicon is released from carriers that also function as a matrix, from which the controlled release of nutrients and volatile oils is made, highlighting the possibility of using in practice the role of silicon in balancing the main signalling pathways in the plant defence response, integrated with the application of elicitors, to produce high amounts of crop with high levels of phytonutrients.

Highlighting the role of silica in animal and plant organisms (given the unity in diversity of the living world), (meso)porous silica forms as a support for the controlled release of active ingredients and bioavailable silica, the compatibility of Trichoderma consortia with other products for the directed activation of plant resistance, will be the axes of coagulation of this trans-disciplinary approach, which also highlights the existence of synergies within the MAIA project partners.