Plant–microbe–soil fertility interaction impacts performance of a Bacillus‐containing bioproduct on bell pepper

Abstract

Limited information is available on the performance of plant growth‐promoting inoculants or bioproducts under different soil nutritional or fertility conditions. Consequently, the objective of this study was to evaluate the effects of a commercially available Bacillus‐containing bioproduct, Microlife Abundance, at concentrations of 5.5 and 6.5 log cfu/ml on early growth, fertilizer use–efficiency, and fruit yield of bell pepper (Capsicum annuum L.) under two different soil fertility conditions (25% and 100% recommended N rates). Two pot experiments were conducted with bell pepper: (a) a 4‐week‐long early growth test with inoculant treatments applied once at transplanting; and (b) a 13‐week‐long yield test with inoculant treatments applied at transplanting and again at first blossom‐set. Results from the early growth test indicated that at both N fertilization levels, applying Abundance once at transplanting at 6.5 log cfu/ml rather than 5.5 log cfu/ml significantly increased root dry weight, total root length, root volume, root surface area, and total length of very fine roots compared with the noninoculated control by 20%, 13%, 17%, 15%, and 12%, respectively. In contrast to the early growth, results from the yield test showed that only at the 100% recommended N rate, applying Abundance twice at both concentrations significantly enhanced N fertilizer use–efficiency and marketable yield of bell pepper over the noninoculated control by 34% (5.5 log cfu/ml) and 30% (6.5 log cfu/ml). Therefore, the efficacy of the Bacillus‐containing bioproduct Abundance in enhancing fertilizer use–efficiency and marketable yield of bell pepper varied between soil nutritional conditions, but the early growth promotion effect of Abundance did not. Our results also demonstrate that selected microbial‐based bioproducts, like Abundance, can be compatible with chemical fertilizers to enhance fertilizer use–efficiency and crop yields, but cannot be used as complete substitutes for chemical fertilizers.

Soil Microbes Drive the Flourishing Growth of Plants From Leucocalocybe mongolica Fairy Ring

“…Thus, plants can absorb large amounts of directly available nutrients from the soil and grow luxuriantly ( Fidanza et al, 2010 ). K, a critical element for plant growth and development, is involved in enzyme activation, photosynthesis, and regulation of water balance, and its accumulation strongly promotes plant growth on the fairy ring soil ( Huang et al, 2020 ). Therefore, L. mongolica growth could affect the soil physicochemical properties of the ON zone, possibly driving the luxuriant growth of plants on the fairy ring soil to some extent.…”

“…Bacillus , a PGPR, is widely present as plant endophytic bacteria or rhizobacteria. In many studies, Bacillus -containing biological products significantly promoted the growth of bell pepper roots and increased yield, while improving N fertilizer utilization ( Huang et al, 2020 ). Meng et al (2016) showed that B. velezensis BAC03 can produce IAA, ammonia, and 1-aminocyclopropane-1-carboxylate deaminase, thus promoting the growth of plants, such as beet, carrot, and cucumber.…”

Respuesta agronómica del chile dulce (Capsicum annuum L.) a la aplicación de Bacillus subtilis y lombricomposta en invernadero

“…The application of vermicompost or B. subtilis has increased several morphological cultivation parameters, such as rice (Sharma and Garg, 2018), tomato (Durukan et al, 2019), barley (Jamily et al, 2019), lettuce (Lee et al, 2020), among others. In the particular case of bell pepper, the application of vermicompost or B. subtilis has promoted growth of several germplasms of this solanceae (Álvarez-Solís et al, 2016;Haghighi and Barzegar, 2018;Huang et al, 2020). Nonetheless, to our knowledge, this is the f irst report of the effect of different dosage of vermicompost plus B. subtilis on C. annuum cultivation.…”

“…La aplicación de lombricomposta o B. subtilis ha incrementado diversos parámetros morfológicos de cultivos como arroz (Sharma y Garg, 2018), tomate (Durukan et al, 2019), cebada (Jamily et al, 2019), lechuga (Lee et al, 2020), entre otros. En el caso particular del chile, la aplicación de lombricomposta o B. subtilis ha promovido el crecimiento de diversos germoplasmas de esta solanácea (Álvarez-Solís et al, 2016;Haghighi y Barzegar, 2018;Huang et al, 2020), sin embargo, este es el primer reporte del efecto de diversas dosis de lombricomposta más B. subtilis en el cultivo de chile dulce.…”