Abstract
To assess the effect a new animal-derived biostimulant on the growth, root morphology, nitrogen content, leaf gas exchange of greenhouse potted snapdragon, three treatments were compared: (a) three doses of biostimulant (D): 0 (D0 or control), 0.1 (D0.1), and 0.2 g L−1 (D0.2); (b) two biostimulant application methods (M): foliar spray and root drenching; (c) two F1 Antirrhinum majus L. hybrids (CV): “Yellow floral showers” and “Red sonnet.” The treatments were arranged in a randomized complete-block design with four replicates, with a total of 48 experimental units. Plant height (+11%), number of shoots (+20%), total shoot length (+10%), number of leaves (+33%), total leaf area (+29%), and number of flowers (+59%) and total aboveground dry weight (+13%) were significantly increased by the biostimulant application compared to the control, regardless of the dose. The lowest dose resulted in the best effect on the ground plant dry weight (+38%) and, in order to the root system, on total length (+55%), average diameter (+36%), volume (+66%), tips (+49%), crossings (+88%), forks (+68%), projected (+62%), and total surface area (+28%). Compared to the control, plants treated with the biostimulant significantly enhanced leaf (+16%) and root (+8%) nitrogen content, photosynthetic rate (+52%), transpiration rate (+55%), and stomatal conductance (+81%), although there were no changes in dark-adapted chlorophyll fluorescence. Differences in the application method were not evident in the aboveground morphological traits, except in the plant shoot number (root drenching: +10%). The foliar spray compared to root drenching had a significant effect only on flower dry weight (3.8 vs. 3.0 g plant−1). On the other hand, root drenching had a positive effect on ground dry weight (2.7 vs. 2.3 g plant−1), root morphology, leaf-N and root-N content (+3%), transpiration rate (+21%), stomatal conductance (+40%), concentration of CO2 in intracellular spaces (+11%), as well as on the efficiency of Photosystem II (+11%). A higher pot quality was obtained in “Red sonnet” compared to “Yellow floral shower.” Based on our findings, applying the biostimulant to potted snapdragon at the lowest dose, as part of a fertilizing regime, improves the crop quality in an agro-environmental sustainable way.
Highlights
Biostimulants are environmental-friendly substances that can increase crop yield by acting on plant metabolism (Yakhin et al, 2017), improving nutrient use efficiency (Vernieri et al, 2006; De Pascale et al, 2017) and affecting both root growth (Zeljkovic et al, 2010; De Lucia and Vecchietti, 2012) and root architecture (Yazdani et al, 2014)
Protein hydrolysates (PHs) are an important group of biostimulants, with a high content of peptides and amino acids, and they display a positive effect on crop performance (Colla et al, 2017)
The aim of this research was to assess the effects of animal-derived PH biostimulant on the growth and blooming parameters, nitrogen plant content, root morphology, leaf gas exchange, and chlorophyll fluorescence in greenhouse potted snapdragon plants
Summary
Biostimulants are environmental-friendly substances that can increase crop yield by acting on plant metabolism (Yakhin et al, 2017), improving nutrient use efficiency (Vernieri et al, 2006; De Pascale et al, 2017) and affecting both root growth (Zeljkovic et al, 2010; De Lucia and Vecchietti, 2012) and root architecture (Yazdani et al, 2014). They can have both a direct or indirect effect on plants. Both PHs from animal- and plant-derived raw materials (Colla et al, 2015), act when applied at low rates (Zhang et al, 2003; Kauffman et al, 2007; Kunicki et al, 2010; Ertani et al, 2016)
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