Abstract
To reduce the use of commercial conventional inorganic fertilizers, the possibility of using pulp and paper industry wastes in agriculture as an alternative source of nutrients is recently under study and discussion. This work aimed to evaluate the effect of sodium lignosulfonate application to soil on photosynthetic leaf nutrient (N, P, K, Ca, Mg, Fe, Mn, and Na) and water use efficiency. A pot culture experiment was conducted with cucumber seedlings, using five lignosulfonate concentrations (0, 1, 2.5, 5, and 10 vol. %) in sandy soil under sufficient or low nutrient availability for plants. The impact of nutrient availability on the plants’ physiological traits was stronger than the lignosulfonate impact. Under sufficient nutrient availability, the lignosulfonate application resulted in decreased photosynthetic N, P, K, Ca, Mg, Fe, and Na use efficiency. Cucumber growth and development, and photosynthetic nutrient, water, and light use efficiency were significantly reduced with a nutrient deficiency. The sodium lignosulfonate application was not successful in eliminating the negative effects of nutrient deficit on cucumber seedlings.
Highlights
Plant growth and development largely depend on soil nutrient availability
In order to understand whether the response of these parameters to the LS application depends on nutrient conditions, the cucumber seedlings grown under sufficient or low nutrient availability (SNA or LNA, respectively)
The present study has highlighted that the impact of soil nutrient deficit on plant physiological traits can be much stronger than sodium LS impact
Summary
Plant growth and development largely depend on soil nutrient availability. A wide range of soils are noted for their low nutrient-supplying capacity, and for agricultural purposes they need to be improved with commercial high-cost fertilizers. New economic instruments of improving soil fertility and reducing the cost of agricultural products are currently under study and discussion [1,2,3]. The possibility of using of pulp and paper industry wastes as an alternative source of soil nutrients is discussed [4,5]. Lignosulfonates (LSs) are by-products of pulp and paper mills producing cellulose and are considered to be a special class of industrial lignin. Stapanian and Shea [19]
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