Verification of the humic substances and PGPB biostimulants beneficial effects on the potato yield and bioactive substances content

Abstract

Potatoes are one of the most important sources of nutrients worldwide, but excessive doses of industrial fertilizers are usually used to achieve higher yields. Soil biostimulants are an increasingly used alternative for reducing fertilizer doses and growing healthy agricultural products. In this study, we examined the effects of humic substances (Agriful) and beneficial bacteria (Groundfix) based biostimulants applied by dripping irrigation on the yield and quality of potato tubers in comparison with the conventional N fertilization system. The small trail field experiment was founded in the growing season of 2020 in the Botanical Garden of the Slovak University of Agriculture in Nitra. The highest tubers yield had the combination of biostimulants and N fertilizer – 195.16% above to control. Simultaneously this combination reached an increase in refractometric dry matter content, starch content – 3.6%, and vitamin C content – 20% increase above to control. The Groundfix variant had the highest antioxidant activity with a 16.2% difference compared to the conventional nitrogen fertilization variant. These results show the positive effect of applied biostimulants on the yield and quality of cultivated potatoes.