Abstract:Current trends in agriculture have moved toward more sustainable cultivation systems with higher efficiency of input use. A variety of materials, derived from different resources, can serve as a crop nutrient sources. An Integrated Plant Nutrition System (IPNS) uses the combined and harmonious use of inorganic, organic and biological nutrient resources to maximize efficiency of inputs. We evaluated the effects of commercial nitrogen (N) fertilizer, humic acid compounds (HA), compost/manure teas and bioinoculan… Show more
“…This measure is especially important because it highlights the water savings of each of the biostimulants. If we overlap growth and solution consumption, we observe that, in general, biostimulants with nutritional solutions produce greater growth in plants as was also seen by Da Cunha Leme Filho et al (2021). This is shown in Fig.…”
“…This measure is especially important because it highlights the water savings of each of the biostimulants. If we overlap growth and solution consumption, we observe that, in general, biostimulants with nutritional solutions produce greater growth in plants as was also seen by Da Cunha Leme Filho et al (2021). This is shown in Fig.…”
“…The fact that cannabis height responded differently to the biostmulants application in two growing seasons and different locations might be due the plant stress intensity throughout the seasons. This is not uncommon event, considering that two studies addressing the use of biostimulants on corn ( Zea mays L.) also found contrasting plant height response depending on the growing season and location (Da Cunha Leme Filho et al 2021 ; El-Mekser et al 2014 ).…”
In 2019 and 2020, we investigated the individual and combined effects of two biofertilizers (manure tea and bioinoculant) and one humic acid (HA) product on cannabis biochemical and physiological parameters and soil CO2 evolution under outdoor conditions. Our hypothesis was that HA would increase the microbial activity in the biofertilizers and synergy of both compounds would promote better plant performance and stimulate soil microbial activity. In 2020, the individual and combined application of biofertilizers and HA increased cannabis height, chlorophyll content, photosynthetic efficiency, aboveground biomass, and bucked biomass by 105, 52, 43, 122, and 117%, respectively. Impacts were greater under suboptimal growing conditions caused by planting delay experienced in 2020. In 2019, planting date occurred in-between the most favorable period and chlorophyll content and photosynthetic efficiency were the only parameters influenced by the application of biostimulants. The discrepancies between the two growing seasons reinforce the evidence of other studies that biostimulants efficacy is maximized under stress conditions. This study could not conclusively confirm that the combined use of biofertilizer + HA is a superior practice since affected plant parameters did not differ from application of the compounds singly. Similarly, only one biofertilizer + HA treatment increased soil microbial activity. More research is needed to define optimum rates and combinations of biofertilizer and stimulants for cannabis.
“…As biostimulant, we selected a well-established commercial product with usage history of over 20 years in South America. The product Microgeo ® is a biostimulant applied in a wide variety of crops ( Gama et al., 2014 ; Cardoso et al., 2017 ; de Almeida et al., 2018 ; da Silva et al., 2020 ; Suarez et al., 2020 ; Filho et al., 2021 ). This technology is based on a continuous liquid compost and consists of locally adapted microorganisms brewed in situ in a field-implemented biofactory, under the influence of the organomineral matrix Microgeo ® (patent number PI 0207342-0).…”
Section: Methodsmentioning
confidence: 99%
“…Soil biology (six indicators) and v. plant health (10 indicators, not assessed in the present study, Figure 1 ). The selection of analytical themes and associated indicators to specifically address biostimulant impacts and effects on crop performance departed from a literature review of research previously carried out on the studied biostimulant ( Gama et al., 2014 ; Cardoso et al., 2017 ; de Almeida et al., 2018 ; da Silva et al., 2020 ; Suarez et al., 2020 ; Filho et al., 2021 ), and complemented by Embrapa’s team institutional experience on the subject ( Hungria et al., 2009 ; Lopes et al., 2013 ; Mendes et al., 2013 ; Mendes et al., 2015 ; Mendes et al., 2018 ; de Faria et al., 2021 ).…”
An ever-growing collection of commercial biostimulants is becoming available in a wide variety of forms and compositions to improve crop performance. Given the intricate nature of deciphering the underlying mechanisms of commercial products, which typically comprise various biological components, it is crucial for research in this area to have robust tools to demonstrate their effectiveness in field trials. Here, we took a multi-attribute approach to evaluating the impact of biostimulants on crop performance. First, we assessed the impact of a biostimulant on the soil and rhizosphere microbiomes associated to crops in eight reference farms, including corn (3 farms), soybean (2), cotton (2) and sugarcane (1), in different biomes and production contexts in Brazil and Paraguay. Second, we modeled a set of integrated indicators to measure crop responses to biostimulant application, including five analytical themes as follows: i) crop development and production (9 indicators), ii) soil chemistry (9), iii) soil physics (5), iv) soil biology (6) and v) plant health (10). Amplicon 16S rRNA and ITS sequencing revealed that the use of the biostimulant consistently changes the structure of bacterial and fungal communities associated with the production system for all evaluated crops. In the rhizosphere samples, the most responsive bacterial taxa to biostimulant application were Prevotella in cotton; Prauserella and Methylovirgula in corn; and Methylocapsa in sugar cane. The most responsive fungal taxa to biostimulant use were Arachnomyces in soybean and cotton; and Rhizophlyctis in corn. The proposed integrated indicators yielded highly favorable positive impact indices (averaging at 0.80), indicating that biostimulant-treated fields correlate with better plant development and crop performance. Prominent indices were observed for indicators in four themes: soil biology (average index 0.84), crop production (0.81), soil physics (compaction reduction 0.81), and chemical fertility (0.75). The multi-attribute approach employed in this study offers an effective strategy for assessing the efficacy of biostimulant products across a wide range of crops and production systems.
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