Team:Lethbridge HS/Implementation

Proposed Implementation

Our RNAi-based herbicide, has a plethora of potential implications in the field. Small interfering RNA (siRNA) is inherently very unstable and prone to degradation, especially when left alone. This posed a very big hurdle within our project. Luckily, a 2020 paper published by frontiers in plant science posed a solution to our critical issue. The paper proposed combining the siRNA with bioclay, a mixture made by combining double stranded RNA (dsRNA) and layered double hydroxide (LDH)[1]. By combining our siRNA with the bioclay, it allows for exponentially slower degradation time and more efficient uptake of the siRNA through the stomata of the plant.

BioClay

We plan to implement Knaptime is Over through a spray application, ideally distributed by Waterton volunteers. The structure of volunteers would be similar to that of the already implemented manual removal system. A foliar application of RNA is far superior to manual removal of knapweed. Firstly, manual removal of Spotted Knapweed could result in seed spread of the plant, because of the disturbance that the manual removal causes to the plant. Furthermore, manual removal of Spotted Knapweed is labour intensive and objectively slower. By implementing our RNAi based herbicide we efficiently terminate Spotted Knapweed while limiting any possible damage to the surrounding environment.

Although manual foliar application is not the only way our herbicide can be used. Our team has also done extensive research on “painting” as plant with our herbicide, though much slower, painting a plant with our RNAi herbicide greatly boosts efficacy rates to near 100%. This could be a far better application method for non industrial users of our herbicide. For example, if there was a outbreak of Spotted Knapweed within someone's backyard a user of our herbicide could relatively quickly apply the our herbicide and see results as quickly as a day.