Aug 2026· Food and Energy Security· Vol 15· 0 citations· 60 references
Abstract
Biochar (BC) is increasingly recognized as a sustainable agricultural amendment to improve soil health, promote plant growth, and suppress insect pests. While its application has been extensively refined in conventional soil‐based agroecosystems, its performance in hydroponics, particularly in liquid formulations remain largely unexplored. The variability in BC feedstocks, pyrolysis parameters, delivery methods and application rates demands optimization to maximize benefits while avoiding unintended effects on plants and beneficial organisms. In this study, we evaluated the concentration dependent effects of pine‐derived liquid BC applied to a rockwool based hydroponic lettuce (
Lactuca sativa
) system under green peach aphid (GPA) (
Myzus persicae
) herbivory. After germination in water for 14 days, the seedlings were subjected to BC sub‐irrigation at 0% (control), 1%, 5%, and 10% BC concentrations and evaluated for plant growth parameters, physiological traits, and aphid performance. Our results show that a single application of liquid BC amendment of 5% resulted in enhanced early seedling vigor when compared to other concentrations and also adversely affected aphid performance. Overall, the findings from this study collectively suggest that 5% BC mediated substrate amendment represents an optimal concentration for managing GPAs in hydroponic lettuce production. The aphids exhibited reduced performance and showed a clear preference against plants that received 5% BC treatment. The results from this study are exploratory and demonstrate that the effects of the pine‐BC observed here are concentration dependent, within a single substrate and plant species underscoring the importance of systematic optimization of BC use to fully realize it's potential for sustainable crop production and pest control.
Hempseed press cake-derived protein hydrolysate (HPH) is a promising plant biostimulant, but its effects on strawberry fruit production under smart greenhouse conditions remain unclear. The objective of this study was to evaluate the effects of foliar HPH application on growth, mineral accumulation, reproductive traits, yield, fruit quality, and antioxidant properties of strawberry cv. ‘Pharachatan 80’. Plants were grown in a smart greenhouse and treated with water (control), a commercial biostimulant, and HPH at 7.5 and 10.0% (w/v) (HPH7.5 and HPH10.0, respectively). Foliar application was initiated 25 days after transplanting and repeated weekly for five applications. HPH applications showed clear concentration-specific improvements in vegetative growth, mineral accumulation, reproductive performance, fruit yield, and antioxidant quality. As the most effective treatment for overall crop performance, HPH7.5 enhanced plant growth and mineral accumulation, particularly K and Mg. Consequently, it improved both yield components (fruit set, number, weight, size, and total yield) and fruit quality attributes, such as total soluble solids, total phenolics, flavonoids, ascorbic acid, and ABTS radical-scavenging activity. Conversely, HPH10.0 was more closely associated with N, P, Ca, Fe, Zn, and Mn accumulation, as well as fruit firmness and total anthocyanin content, and DPPH radical-scavenging activity. Principal component analysis confirmed distinct response patterns between HPH concentrations. Thus, HPH7.5 serves as an effective foliar biostimulant to improve strawberry productivity and quality in smart greenhouses.
Arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) can improve plant performance under drought, but responses depend on host genotype, fungal isolate, symbiosis duration, and stress intensity. We evaluated whether Rhizophagus irregularis DAOM 197198 mitigated short-term water deficit in the Ivorian plantain cultivar Affoto under greenhouse conditions. Plants were assigned to a 2 × 3 factorial combination of inoculation (non-mycorrhizal or R. irregularis) and water supply (100% or 50% substrate water-holding capacity [WHC] replenished daily, or water withheld) for 14 days after a 14-day establishment period. Growth, organ water content, electrolyte leakage, chlorophyll index, leaf temperature, functional leaves, root colonization, and substrate spore density were quantified. Positive continuous responses were analyzed using log-linear models and heteroscedasticity-robust Type III tests; bounded responses were analyzed using beta or quasibinomial models. Water supply strongly affected total dry biomass (F2,36 = 34.44, P < 0.001), whereas inoculation (P = 0.789) and the inoculation × water-supply interaction (P = 0.946) did not. Mean total dry biomass declined from 104.73 g at 100% WHC to 70.58 g at 50% WHC and 36.02 g when water was withheld. Mycorrhizal growth responses were 2.7%, -4.1%, and -0.4%, respectively, and all 95% bootstrap confidence intervals included zero. AMF mitigation ratios were 0.935 (95% CI 0.627-1.422) at 50% WHC and 0.970 (0.626-1.572) under water withholding. Microscopy confirmed hyphae, vesicles, and arbuscules in inoculated roots, and none in controls; arbuscular abundance across the root system ranged from 24.92% to 31.81%. Thus, fungal establishment occurred, but inoculation did not detectably alter drought-associated biomass loss. Water deficit also reduced tissue hydration, growth dimensions, SPAD, and functional leaf proportion while increasing electrolyte leakage and leaf temperature. For the tested cultivar-isolate combination, following a short establishment period and under severe combined soil-water and atmospheric stress, R. irregularis conferred no detectable mitigation of biomass.
E. Tiénébo, A. Kouadia, Kan Ulrich Urbain Konan et al.· Biotechnology Journal Intern...· 0 citations
Reducing irrigation inputs is essential for sustainable container crop production; however, the ability of biostimulants to mitigate the effects of deficit irrigation on ornamental crop quality and postharvest often may be crop-specific, product-specific, and application-specific. Two independent experiments were conducted to evaluate whether chitosan applied as a substrate amendment or arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) applied during germination could improve growth, physiology, and postharvest performance of petunia (
Petunia milliflora
‘Picobella
TM
Pink’) under sustained water content reduction. Plants were grown under three container capacity (CC) treatments (100%, 70%, and 40%) combined with chitosan application timing (no application, week 1, or week 3) or AMF application (with or without). After production, plants were exposed to postharvest environments at 30 °C or 40 °C for 2 weeks. The growth index and canopy area decreased by 10% to 40% relative to plants grown at 100% CC under 70% and 40% CC; however, flower coverage percentage remained unaffected during production. Water use reduced by 20% at 70% CC and by up to 50% at 40% CC, while irrigation water use efficiency (IWUE) was maintained with all CC treatments. In the AMF experiment, plants grown at 40% CC with AMF exhibited the highest IWUE and increased root colonization under severe deficit irrigation. Photosynthetic pigment concentrations were generally maintained under deficit irrigation, whereas malondialdehyde concentrations temporarily increased at week 4 under 40% CC, indicating increased oxidative stress. Neither chitosan nor AMF consistently enhanced plant growth or reduced biochemical stress indicators under the evaluated conditions. Chitosan application timing strongly influenced plant responses, with week 3 applications reducing growth and increasing oxidative stress across CC treatments. During the postharvest evaluation, temperature was the primary factor affecting plant performance, with plants maintained at 40 °C exhibiting lower flower coverage and canopy area compared with plants maintained at 30 °C. The combination of deficit irrigation and chitosan application showed limited potential to improve postharvest heat tolerance, whereas AMF application did not improve postharvest performance. Overall, petunia demonstrated substantial tolerance to sustained deficit irrigation, and 70% CC appeared to be a practical strategy for reducing irrigation inputs while maintaining marketable crop quality.
A. D. Pantoja-Benavides, R. Raudales· Horttechnology· 0 citations
The use of beneficial microorganisms during the acclimatization of micropropagated plants represents a promising biotechnological tool to improve plant establishment and enhance protection against soil pathogens under field conditions. This study explores the potential of a mycorrhizal-based inoculant in biohardening to boost banana plants performance and prime disease resistance. The effects of inoculation during the acclimatization of in vitro-propagated banana plantlets on plant development and resistance against Fusarium oxysporum f. sp. cubense Subtropical Race 4 (Foc-STR4) were evaluated. Biohardened plants exhibited enhanced early growth (greater shoot and root development). Moreover, biohardening lead to a strong reduction in disease symptoms (corm necrosis, leaf size and pseudostem diameter) and pathogen proliferation in roots and soil, and improved nutritional status (higher NPK levels) in Foc-STR4 challenged plants. Molecular analyses revealed a primed defense response in the biohardened plants, characterised by an increased accumulation of the defense related hormone salicylic acid and its glucosylated form, alongside with a stronger induction of defense-related genes associated with oxidative stress and jasmonate signalling. Overall, the results reveal that biohardening of micropropagated banana plants with the mycorrhizal inoculant enhances plant performance and primes defense responses, thereby mitigating Fusarium wilt. This study highlights the potential of biohardening strategies for the sustainable protection of micropropagated crops of high agronomic value.
Raquel Correa-Delgado, Juan Manuel García-Ramírez, Patricia Brito-López et al.· Journal of Experimental Bota...· 0 citations
The excessive dependence on synthetic fertilizers in crop production has raised concerns regarding soil degradation, environmental sustainability, and long-term agricultural productivity. Vermicompost represents a promising organic nutrient source; however, its effectiveness in improving crop performance may vary depending on application rate and crop genotype. This study evaluated vermicompost as a sustainable biofertilizer for improving growth and yield of cowpea (Vigna unguiculata L.). A factorial experiment was conducted to evaluate the effects of vermicompost application levels and cowpea genotype on growth and yield performance. Four cowpea varieties were tested under four vermicompost-to-soil ratios of 25:75, 50:50, 75:25, and 100:0 together with chemical fertilizer and untreated control treatments. Growth and yield parameters were analyzed using analysis of variance in Minitab 15. Vermicompost significantly enhanced vegetative growth and reproductive performance compared with the control and chemical fertilizer treatments (p < 0.05). Improvements were evident across all vermicompost levels, with 25–75% applications already producing substantial gains in growth and yield attributes. Maximum values were generally observed at the 100% level, including plant height (50.94 ± 3.00 cm; Bombay), leaf number (39.00 ± 1.22; MI 35), branch number (14.20 ± 1.48; MI 35), nodes per main stem (20.00 ± 2.45; MI 35), and leaf area index (79.26 ± 14.97 cm²; Bombay). Yield-related traits also responded positively to vermicompost, as indicated by earlier flowering (35 ± 0.83 days; Waruni and Dawala), earlier maturity (47.40 ± 1.14 days; Waruni), longer pods (16.24 ± 0.68 cm; ANKCP 2), higher seed number per pod (11.00 ± 1.58; ANKCP 2), greater pod number per plant (4.40 ± 1.14; Waruni), and increased seed size (0.72 ± 0.08 mm; Bombay). Vermicompost showed beneficial effects under the tested pot conditions; however, further field validation is necessary to assess its effectiveness and suitability as a partial or complete alternative to conventional fertilizers.
A. Amarasinghe, E. Rathnathunga, W. Pushpakumari· Turkish Journal of Agricultu...· 0 citations
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