Evaluation of a Legume-Derived Protein Hydrolysate to Mitigate Iron Deficiency in Plants

Silvia Celletti,Nicoletta Guglielmo,Stefano Cesco,Stefania Astolfi,Giuseppe Colla,Tanja Mimmo

doi:10.3390/agronomy10121942

Silvia Celletti, Nicoletta Guglielmo + Show 4 more

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https://doi.org/10.3390/agronomy10121942

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Abstract

Biostimulants play an important role in the development of management practices able to reach adequate productivity to meet the food demand of a growing world population, while following a sustainable agriculture model. This work aims to evaluate the effect of a protein hydrolysate derived from legume seeds by enzymatic hydrolysis on plant growth and also to verify its ability to mitigate Fe deficiency, a widespread problem significantly limiting plant growth and crop productivity. Experiments were performed with tomato (Solanum lycopersicum L.—cv. AKRAI F1) and cucumber (Cucumis sativus L.—cv. EKRON F1). The plants were grown hydroponically under adequate or limited Fe supply. Changes in shoot and root fresh weight, leaf relative chlorophyll content and the accumulation of macro- and microelements in shoots and roots were measured. Plant ability to cope with Fe deficiency was measured by evaluating the activity of root Fe3+-chelate reductase. Our results indicate that the foliar treatments with the protein hydrolysate did not significantly affect growth parameters when plants were grown in full nutrient solution. However, the biostimulant was able to improve the growth performance of Fe-deficient plants. Therefore, the protein hydrolysate can be a powerful tool to stimulate crop growth under Fe-deficient environments, leading to reduced fertilizer inputs with related environmental and economic benefits.

Highlights

Iron (Fe) is one of the micronutrients which is responsible for the quality and quantity of crop yields and, its deficiency significantly impacts agricultural production at the global level [1,2].being crucial for the proper functioning of metabolic processes related to electron transport such as respiration and photosynthesis as well as those connected with the biosynthesis of fundamental molecules, e.g., chlorophyll [3,4], Fe plays a crucial role in the whole metabolism of plants
Protein hydrolysates are interesting for their demonstrated ability to modulate the molecular and physiological processes that promote plant growth, favor increased yield and alleviate the impact of abiotic stress on crops [21]
The biomass of tomato plants exposed to Fe deficiency, evaluated in terms of shoot and root fresh weight (FW), did not show statistically significant variations compared to the control condition (F vs. C, Figure 1B)

Summary

Introduction

Iron (Fe) is one of the micronutrients which is responsible for the quality and quantity of crop yields and, its deficiency significantly impacts agricultural production at the global level [1,2].being crucial for the proper functioning of metabolic processes related to electron transport such as respiration and photosynthesis as well as those connected with the biosynthesis of fundamental molecules, e.g., chlorophyll [3,4], Fe plays a crucial role in the whole metabolism (anabolic and catabolic) of plants. Iron (Fe) is one of the micronutrients which is responsible for the quality and quantity of crop yields and, its deficiency significantly impacts agricultural production at the global level [1,2]. When Fe availability in the growth medium is not adequate, crops display typical visual symptoms such as interveinal leaf chlorosis of the younger leaves and stunted development of the whole plant, making the diagnosis of the nutritional disorder rather easy to make [5]. Instead, the Fe shortage induces serious imbalances in the ultrastructure and functionality of chloroplasts, as 90% of leaf-Fe is present in chloroplasts [6,7], with relevant implications for all the metabolic pathways carried out in these organelles. The widespread limited availability of Fe for plant nutrition is not related to its low absolute soil

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