Glycine mitigates fertilizer requirements of agricultural crops: case study with cucumber as a high fertilizer demanding crop

Fateme Zargar Shooshtari,Sepideh Kalateh Jari,Mohammad Reza Hasandokht,Mohammad Kazem Souri

doi:10.1186/s40538-020-00185-5

Abstract

BackgroundDifferent approaches have been used to improve mineral nutrient status of plants in absence of chemical fertilization and toward safer products and improved human health. Amino acids have been proposed with such roles in different recent studies. In this study, glycine was applied as foliar (250, 500 and 1000 ppm) or as soil (250 and 500 mg/plant) to cucumber plants compared to unfertilized control and NPK fertilization, under greenhouse conditions.ResultsThe results showed that all glycine treatments increased leaf area and the economic life of plants compared to control. Soil application of glycine at higher concentration of 500 mg/plant was able to produce the same or better records than NPK fertilization, particularly regarding leaf mineral concentration, plant economic life and total yield. Leaf macro- micro-nutrients were most increased under 500 mg soil-glycine application. Foliar spray of 500 ppm glycine resulted in better records than the other two levels, as spray of 1000 ppm glycine showed adverse and toxic effects including leaf necrosis. Fruit firmness was increased only by NPK and soil application of 500 mg glycine, whereas fruit vitamin C was increased by NPK fertilization, soil application of glycine at both levels (250, 500 mg) and foliar application of glycine at 500 ppm compared to control plants.ConclusionThe results indicate that soil application of 500 mg glycine/plant was able to improve leaf mineral and physiological characteristics towards higher yield and quality.

Highlights

Different approaches have been used to improve mineral nutrient status of plants in absence of chemical fertilization and toward safer products and improved human health
The results showed that the most of cucumber growth traits were influenced by treatments under the lime soil condition with 8.7% calcium carbonate and 3.1% magnesium carbonate
Despite cucumber being a relatively tolerant species to moderate lime, its yield and quality may have been negatively influenced by soil lime conditions

Summary

Introduction

Different approaches have been used to improve mineral nutrient status of plants in absence of chemical fertilization and toward safer products and improved human health. High rates of chemical fertilizers are generally applied to cucumber culture in Different compounds and agronomic techniques have been proposed and used extensively to enhance mineral nutrition of plants under optimum or stress conditions [23, 28, 37]. The biostimulation effect of amino acids on plant growth and nutrient uptake enhancement has been frequently reported [2, 9, 46]. Due to their nature, low application rates and higher efficiency, amino acids are fully friendly to soil, environment and human health [32].

Methods

Results

Conclusion