Towards Sustainable Agriculture—Agronomic and Economic Effects of Biostimulant Use in Common Bean Cultivation

Abstract

Today, one of the greatest challenges faced by the agriculture industry is the development of sustainable and environmentally-friendly systems to meet nutritional demands of the continuously growing global population. A number of research studies have recently been undertaken with the aim to indicate types of parameters used in plant production that would be able to improve plant growth as well as the effectiveness and quality of yield, and to help plants cope with environmental stress. The aim of this study was to verify a hypothesis that the implementation of a sustainable agricultural technology, based on the use of synthetic biostimulants, will allow not only increasing crop yield and quality but also improving the cost-effectiveness of common bean cultivation. The field experiment was conducted in three growing seasons (2016–2018). In the growing season, the plants were treated with Atonik and Tytanit biostimulants in the form of single or double spraying. We determinated biometric traits, seed yield, seed number, and 1000-seed weight. Further analyses included contents of nutraceutical potential. The economic effect of using biostimulants was also calculated. The results of our experiment allowed verifying a hypothesis that the implementation of a sustainable agricultural technology based on the use of synthetic preparations was an effective method to increase plant productivity and, consequently, economic profits to farmers.

Evaluation of the Effects of Allelopathic Aqueous Plant Extracts, as Potential Preparations for Seed Dressing, on the Modulation of Cauliflower Seed Germination

“…Hence, the extracts could differ also in their antioxidative potential, which in turn might either enhance or suppress the activity of such free-radical scavenging enzymes such as superoxide dismutase (SOD), catalase (CAT), and peroxidase (POD) in cauliflower seeds [44]. These enzymes improve the plant's capability for maintaining an appropriate growth rate [45,46]. As mentioned earlier, plants are rich sources of antioxidants, minerals, or vitamins that may potentially stimulate crop seed germination.…”

Biochemical and economical effect of application biostimulants containing seaweed extracts and amino acids as an element of agroecological management of bean cultivation

“…conducted research on the influence of biostimulants on the yield and chemical composition of bean 14,19,[35][36][37] and soybeans seeds 7,9,38 . The results clearly showed that the plant response depended on the composition and doses of the preparations.…”

Evaluation of the Effectiveness of the Use of Biopreparations as Seed Dressings

“…This was mainly due to the excessive use of agrochemicals, which were used disproportionately to the actual needs of plants [15,16]. The focus is therefore increasingly on natural preparations as new agricultural technologies to protect and increase crop yields [17][18][19].…”

“…In addition, the use of biopreparations can reduce cultivation costs and increase the efficiency of the use of soil nutrients by plants, which in the end will reduce the incidence of diseases caused by nutrient deficiencies. However, these effects are not easy to achieve and require a lot of knowledge from the farmer about the selection of an appropriate preparation, the method of its application and the correct adjustment of doses and concentrations [19][20][21][22].…”