- Plants are grown soilless.
- Stimulation of active compounds contents by elicitation.
- Roots exudation by physical or chemical permeabilization means.
- Collect of the compounds in the liquid solution.
- Plants are not destroyed.
- Plants are "milked" several times a year.
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These treatments are not destructive for the plants and they can be conditioned for further “milking” cycles of production.
The molecules secreted in the liquid nutrient solution are trapped by classical means (chromatography, ultra-filtration, crystallization ...) and concentred as bulk extracts. Further steps of separation and purification lead to pure molecules.
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This simple process was developed by INRA-INPL researchers as an economical alternative to in-vitro plant cell culture. This technology is specially interesting for high value metabolites from protected, endangered plants, which natural metabolites are too complicate to synthesize. Plants are not destroyed, but “milked” several times. Milking technology allows eco-friendly production of metabolites from protected plants with respect to the biodiversity. |
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Plants may produce in one milking operation more than the amount harvested from the same number of crushed plants grown in soil.
Example on alkaloids from Datura innoxia Mill.
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 Plant Milking advantages:
- Plants growth is preserved
- Possibility to harvest from protected, endangered, slow to grow species
- Improved yield and simple to purify extracts (vs biomass content)
- easy and fast production scale up (vs. in-vitro culture)
- greenhouse containment
- solve climate and geopolitical outsourcing problems
Freedom to operate (vs. extraction patents) |
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PAT plantes à traire® poster (Plant Milking)
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Technologies
