Abstract
Plant growth-promoting rhizobacteria have been applied to different vegetable crops but there is still no information on the effect of bacterial biostimulant application under variable nutritional level on lettuce seedlings and their performance after transplanting in the field. This study aimed to evaluate the efficacy of a bacterial biostimulant to enhance growth and quality of lettuce seedlings fertigated with increasing nutrient rates and to assess the efficacy of these treatments on lettuce head production. Lettuce seedlings were inoculated with 1.5 g L−1 of TNC BactorrS13 (a commercial biostimulant containing 1.3 × 108 CFU g−1 of Bacillus spp.) and fertigated with a nutrient solution containing 0, 1, 2, and 4 g L−1 of NPK fertilizer (20-20-20). At the end of transplant production, the plants were evaluated for greenhouse cultivation. The effect of fertigation rate on seedling height, dry biomass, dry matter percentage, and water use efficiency was evident up to 2 g L−1 of fertilizer in the non-inoculated seedlings, whereas fresh biomass and nitrogen use efficiency changed up to 4 g L−1 of fertilizer. The use of the bacterial biostimulant modified seedling growth and its response to nutrient availability. The inoculation of the substrate with Bacillus spp. promoted plant growth and allowed seedlings to reach the highest height and biomass accumulation. The physiological age of lettuce seedlings showed a strong influence on plant growth and production after transplanting. The bacterial treatment positively affected the yield and nitrate content of lettuce plants.
Highlights
IntroductionGreenhouse, containerized, transplant production for vegetable crops is a standard procedure in many countries of the world [2]
The use of vegetable transplants has become common, both for transplanting in open field and under protected cultivation, as it can ensure crop establishment of high-value vegetable crops [1].Greenhouse, containerized, transplant production for vegetable crops is a standard procedure in many countries of the world [2]
The effects of fertigation rates and bacterial inoculum of the substrate on transplant production were evaluated with nursery and field trials carried out in a greenhouse situated at the Department of Agricultural, Food, and Forest Sciences (SAAF-University of Palermo, Italy) (38◦ 060 2800 N 13◦ 210 300 E; altitude 49 m) and in a greenhouse-tunnel located at the experimental farm of the Research Unit for Plant
Summary
Greenhouse, containerized, transplant production for vegetable crops is a standard procedure in many countries of the world [2] It allows advantages such as reduced cost against direct seeding when using hybrid seeds or grafted plants, easier mulched cultivation, improved land use efficiency, reduction of field occupation time, improved early weed control, enhanced crop earliness, and concentration of crop maturity [3,4,5,6]. These advantages are linked to transplant characteristics that may be affected by water and nutrient availability, substrate characteristics and volume, and thermal and light conditions inside the nursery greenhouse [7,8,9,10,11,12,13]. Today there is a greater environmental and ecological awareness and the number of farmers who want to adopt sustainable and efficient cultivation systems is growing [18]
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