Biostimulants Application: A Low Input Cropping Management Tool for Sustainable Farming of Vegetables

Abstract

Biostimulants, are a diverse class of compounds including substances or microorganism which have positive impacts on plant growth, yield and chemical composition as well as boosting effects to biotic and abiotic stress tolerance. The major plant biostimulants are hydrolysates of plant or animal protein and other compounds that contain nitrogen, humic substances, extracts of seaweeds, biopolymers, compounds of microbial origin, phosphite, and silicon, among others. The mechanisms involved in the protective effects of biostimulants are varied depending on the compound and/or crop and mostly related with improved physiological processes and plant morphology aspects such as the enhanced root formation and elongation, increased nutrient uptake, improvement in seed germination rates and better crop establishment, increased cation exchange, decreased leaching, detoxification of heavy metals, mechanisms involved in stomatal conductance and plant transpiration or the stimulation of plant immune systems against stressors. The aim of this review was to provide an overview of the application of plant biostimulants on different crops within the framework of sustainable crop management, aiming to gather critical information regarding their positive effects on plant growth and yield, as well as on the quality of the final product. Moreover, the main limitations of such practice as well as the future prospects of biostimulants research will be presented.

Water Stress Alleviation Effects of Biostimulants on Greenhouse-Grown Tomato Fruit

“…Fungi have the ability to interact with the plant through the roots in various ways, ranging from mutualistic symbioses to parasitism [19,20]. In particular, mycorrhizal fungi are a heterogeneous group of taxa that establish symbioses with over 90% of all plant species and find numerous applications in modern horticulture [21][22][23]. Moreover, the application of biostimulants obtained from plant or seaweed extracts, as well as from the residues of crops, has shown positive results in plant growth as well as in plant adaptation to stress [24,25].…”

Impact of Salinity on the Growth and Chemical Composition of Two Underutilized Wild Edible Greens: Taraxacum officinale and Reichardia picroides

“…Therefore, urgent measures are needed to ensure food security, especially when considering the rapidly increasing global population and the growing demands for quality foods [6]. For this purpose, several means have been suggested during the last years including the use of cost-effective practices such as the application of biostimulants, the grafting of vegetables to tolerant rootstocks and the cropping of alternative and tolerant species, among others [7][8][9][10][11][12].…”

Use of a Biostimulant Obtained from Slaughterhouse Sludge in a Greenhouse Tomato Crop

“…Indeed, it has been found that the positive effects of protein hydrolysates are associated with the upregulation of metabolites involved in plant growth processes and the provocation of various activities similar to those caused by the hormones [31,32]. This enhancement of plant metabolism promotes plant respiration, photosynthesis and protein synthesis processes, thus improving crop yield and quality [30,33].…”

“…It has been observed that when organic matter is applied to the soil, it improves the growth and morphology of the roots, increases the absorption of nutrients and the efficiency of their use, improves crop yields and, finally, increases the quality of the fruit [32,33]. According to Garcia et al [34] and Conselvan et al [35], humic substances could promote plant growth by producing effects very similar to those of hormones.…”