Abstract
Nowadays, the use of biostimulants to reduce agrochemical input is a major trend in agriculture. In this work, we report on calcium phosphate particles (CaP) recovered from the circular economy, combined with natural humic substances (HSs), to produce a plant biostimulant. CaPs were obtained by the thermal treatment of Salmo salar bones and were subsequently functionalized with HSs by soaking in a HS water solution. The obtained materials were characterized, showing that the functionalization with HS did not sort any effect on the bulk physicochemical properties of CaP, with the exception of the surface charge that was found to get more negative. Finally, the effect of the materials on nutrient uptake and translocation in the early stages of development (up to 20 days) of two model species of interest for horticulture, Valerianella locusta and Diplotaxis tenuifolia, was assessed. Both species exhibited a similar tendency to accumulate Ca and P in hypogeal tissues, but showed different reactions to the treatments in terms of translocation to the leaves. CaP and CaP–HS treatments lead to an increase of P accumulation in the leaves of D. tenuifolia, while the treatment with HS was found to increase only the concentration of Ca in V. locusta leaves. A low biostimulating effect on both plants’ growth was observed, and was mainly scribed to the low concentration of HS in the tested materials. In the end, the obtained material showed promising results in virtue of its potential to elicit phosphorous uptake and foliar translocation by plants.
Highlights
Intensive farming has been extensively adopted in recent years to cope with the increasing global food demand [1]
calcium phosphate particles (CaP)–humic substances (HSs) together with the respective controls were tested against Diplotaxis tenuifolia and Valerianella locusta seedlings up to 20 days
The results showed that, even though they exhibited a similar tendency to accumulate Ca and P in hypogeal tissues, the two species have different reactions to the treatments in terms of nutrient uptake and translocation
Summary
Intensive farming has been extensively adopted in recent years to cope with the increasing global food demand [1] This practice often fails sustainability principles as it requires the use of massive quantities of pesticides and nutrients involving the depletion of non-renewable resources. In this context, the use of biostimulants for increasing plant nutrient use efficiency (NUE) have been proposed several times to reduce the chemical inputs of intensive farming while maintaining high productivity levels [2]. Humic substances (HS) are among the most studied in virtue of (i) their ability to stimulate plant growth and increase nutrient uptake and hormone production; (ii) their natural occurrence in soils; and (iii) their positive interaction with soil bacterial communities [3,4]. Purwanto et al studied the effects of different combinations
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