No abstract

Demand for organically grown food crops is rising substantially annually owing to their contributions to human health. However, organic farm production is still generally lower compared to conventional farming. Nutrient availability, content consistency, uptake, assimilation, and crop responses to various stresses were reported as critical yield-limiting factors in many organic farming systems. In recent years, plant biostimulants (BSs) have gained much interest from researchers and growers, and with the objective of integrating these products to enhance nutrient use efficiency (NUE), crop performance, and delivering better stress resilience in organic-related farming. This review gave an overview of direct and indirect mechanisms of microbial and non-microbial BSs in enhancing plant nutrient uptake, physiological status, productivity, resilience to various stressors, and soil-microbe-plant interactions. BSs offer a promising, innovative and sustainable strategy to supplement and replace agrochemicals in the near future. With greater mechanistic clarity, designing purposeful combinations of microbial and non-microbial BSs that would interact synergistically and deliver desired outcomes in terms of acceptable yield and high-quality products sustainably will be pivotal. Understanding these mechanisms will improve the next generation of novel and well-characterized BSs, combining microbial and non-microbial BSs strategically with specific desired synergistic bio-stimulatory action, to deliver enhanced plant growth, yield, quality, and resilience consistently in organic-related cultivation.

The experiment was conducted at Horticulture Farm at Sher-e-Bangla Agricultural University, Bangladesh during the period December, 2014 to March 2015 to evaluate the effect of different levels of nitrogen and phosphorous on the growth and yield of bush bean. The two factor experiment was laid out in Randomized Complete Block Design with three replications. The treatment was comprised of two factors-Factor A: levels of nitrogen i) 0 kg/ha, ii) 20 kg/ha, iii) 40 kg/ha and Factor B: levels of phosphorous (P 2 O 5 ) -i) 0 kg/ha, ii) 50 kg/ha, iii) 75 kg/ha, iv) 100 kg/ha. The results revealed that most of the growth and yield contributing parameters were significantly influenced by the different levels of nitrogen and phosphorous application. The maximum promotive effect on growth and yield of bush bean was associated with 40 kg N/ha and Nasrin et al.; AJRCS, 4(2): 1-8, 2019; Article no.AJRCS.50148 2 75 kg P 2 O 5 /ha. Again their combined application enhanced maximum vegetative growth and with higher pod yield and seed yield. Therefore, application of 40 kg N/ha with 75 kg P 2 O 5 /ha can be conductive for bush bean cultivation in Bangladesh with higher yield. Original Research Article

The current pot experiment was conducted at the Horticulture Farm of Sher‐e‐Bangla Agricultural University, Dhaka, Bangladesh, from October 2017 to April 2018, to evaluate the effects of the three biostimulants—Trichoderma‐based biostimulants (TB), seaweed extract (SWE), and humic substance (HS)—and their combinations on the growth, yield, nutritional quality, and antioxidant properties of tomato (Lycopersicum esculentum L.). The experiment was constructed in a completely randomized design using four replications. Thirteen treatments of TB, SWE, and HS were included (single and/or in combination) in the experiment, and the impact on growth, yield, nutritional quality, and antioxidant properties were evaluated. The results showed that T8 (50 g L−1 Trichoderma + 2 g L−1 SWE) increased the growth attributes positively as a result of the synergistic effects that led to a significant increase in yield over all other treatments. The treatment T8 also elicited an increase in total soluble solids, as well as bioactive molecules such as lycopene and ascorbic acid, thereby increasing the nutritional and functional quality of the tomato fruits. Collectively, Trichoderma and SWE improved soil fertility and promoted the growth of rhizosphere microbes, which eventually led to higher tomato yields and increases in antioxidants and minerals. Soil drenching of SWE along with Trichoderma is therefore considered to be an effective technique for sustainable tomato production of superior quality and higher yield.

Seed priming is a technique that can potentially facilitate rapid and consistent germination and subsequent plant growth. The present study investigates the effect of different seed priming treatments and processing times on germination and growth efficiency for the effective cultivation of Yard-long bean. Thirteen different primings were used to determine the stimulatory effect on the germination and yield performance of the Yard-long bean. The priming treatments included control (without priming); hydro priming for 12, 18, 24, and 30 h; halo priming (1% CaCl2) for 12, 18, 24, and 30 h; and halo priming (2% KNO3) for 12, 18, 24, and 30 h. Studies showing the highest level of germination (86.66%), germination index (35.69), seedling vigor index (1833.80), number of branches (7.20), and pod yields per plant (1836.00 g) were recorded from halo priming with 1% CaCl2 at 12 h treatment. Halo priming with 1% CaCl2 at 12 h is thus considered to be a compatible priming technique for the germination of seeds and a higher yield of Yard-long bean.