Vanilla Plant Research Articles

Physiological Characters of Vanilla Plant (Vanilla planifolia Andrew) in Various Types of Shade Trees

Vanilla plants are CAM plants and are very sensitive to direct sunlight, so vanilla plants need shade plants to reduce the intensity of sunlight. Research on the physiological characteristics of vanilla plants on various types of shade trees was carried out to finding out the influence of types of shade trees on the physiological characteristics of vanilla plants. The research was conducted using a randomized completely block design with four groups. Planting was carried out using four types of shade plants, namely Gliricidia sepium, Syzygium aromaticums, Erythrina variegata and Leucaena leucocephala plants. To determine microclimate conditions, temperature, air humidity and sunlight intensity were observed three times a day (morning, afternoon and evening). Physiological observation parameters include content of chlorophyll A, chlorophyll B levels, total chlorophyll, proline, relative water content. The results of the research showed that temperature, air humidity and the intensity of sunlight received are different for each type of shade plant. Types of shade plants significantly influence content of chlorophyll A, chlorophyll B, total chlorophyll, proline and relative water content. The conclusion was the type of shade plant affects the microclimatic conditions of the vanilla plant, thereby influencing the physiological properties of the vanilla plant.

Comprehensive metabolome characterization of leaves, internodes, and aerial roots of Vanilla planifolia by untargeted LC-MS and GC × GC-MS.

Untargeted metabolomics is a powerful tool that provides strategies for gaining a systematic understanding of quantitative changes in the levels of metabolites, especially when combining different metabolomic platforms. Vanilla is one of the world's most popular flavors originating from cured pods of the orchid Vanilla planifolia. However, only a few studies have investigated the metabolome of V. planifolia, and no LC-MS or GC-MS metabolomics studies with respect to leaves have been performed. The aim of the study was to comprehensively characterize the metabolome of different organs (leaves, internodes, and aerial roots) of V. planifolia. Characterization of the metabolome was achieved using two complementary platforms (GC × GC-MS, LC-QToF-MS), and metabolite identification was based on a comparison with in-house databases or curated external spectral libraries. In total, 127 metabolites could be identified with high certainty (confidence level 1 or 2) including sugars, amino acids, fatty acids, organic acids, and amines/amides but also secondary metabolites such as vanillin-related metabolites, flavonoids, and terpenoids. Ninty-eight metabolites showed significantly different intensities between the plant organs. Most strikingly, aglycons of flavonoids and vanillin-related metabolites were elevated in aerial roots, whereas its O-glycoside forms tended to be higher in leaves and/or internodes. This suggests that the more bioactive aglycones may accumulate where preferably needed, e.g. for defense against pathogens. The results derived from the study substantially expand the knowledge regarding the vanilla metabolome forming a valuable basis for more targeted investigations in future studies, e.g. towards an optimization of vanilla plant cultivation.

The Effect of Eco-enzymes and Husk Charcoal on the Growth of Vanilla Seeds

Background: The successful growth and development of the vanilla plant are supported by the availability of soil nutrients that are absorbed by the plant roots. Natural fertilizers derived from plant waste easily decompose in the soil so that they are more quickly absorbed by roots and stored in plant cells. The purpose of this study was to determine the effect of eco-enzymes and husk charcoal on the growth of vanilla seedlings. Methods: This study was designed using a complete randomized block design. The first factor was eco-enzyme (without eco-enzyme and with eco-enzyme 15 ml/plant), namely E0 and E1, the second factor was the husk charcoal dose (0, 5, 10, 15) g/plant, P0, P1, P2, P3. Data were analyzed using ANOVA analysis of variance with Duncan’s multiple range test (DMRT) with a significant difference of 5%. The results showed that the best vanilla growth was obtained by treating it with 15 ml/polybag eco-enzyme and 15 g/polybag coconut shell charcoal (E1P3). Result: The plant height reaches 79.67 cm, the number of leaves reaches 12.67 strands and the width reaches 405.42 mm. The fresh weight of the plants reached 71.33 g, the dry weight of the plants reached 28 g, the fresh weight of the roots reached 8.6 g, and the dry weight of the roots reached 1.27 g. Microscopi observation showed that eco enzymes and coconut shell charcoal infected the roots and filled the tissues, then played a role in increasing the growth of the vanilla seedlings.

The Effect of The Number of Section on The Growth of Vanilly Plant Cuttings (Vanilla planivolia Andrews)

The vanilla plant (Vanilla planifolia Andrews) is one of a spice plants that has economic value and the global demand for vanilla continues to increase along with the development of industries that rely on vanilla raw materials. One of the factors that contributing to the vanilla low production is the limited availability of cuttings as a source of section. One effort required to increase vanilla plant production is by using good section as well as paying attention to the number of segments on vanilla plant cuttings. This research aims to determine the effect of the number of segments on the growth of vanilla plant cuttings (Vanilla planifolia Andrews). The experimental design used in this research was a Completely Randomized Design (CRD) which consisted of 5 treatments and 3 replications so that there were 15 treatment units, namely R1 = 1 segment, R2 = 2 segments, R3 = 3 segments, R4 = 4 segments, and R5 = 5 segments. The observational data from the treatment was processed statistically. If the results of the analysis have a real effect then a further test is carried out with BNJ at a real level of 5%. The parameters observed were shoot height (cm), number of leaves (strands), and shoot diameter (cm). The results of the research showed that the treatment of the number of cutting segments had a very significant effect on the growth parameters of shoot height, number of leaves and shoot diameter of vanilla plant seedlings with the best treatment obtained in the R4 treatment (4 segments).

Quality of Vanilla spp. from Madagascar: evolution of the compound fingerprints from the green beans to the vanilla pods’ preparation

Description of the subject. Vanilla is a spice whose name comes from the spanish word “vanilla”, meaning little black pods. It comes from a variety of orchids, more specifically the vanilla plant. Although vanilla is the second most expensive spice, next to saffron, it is still the most used in the food, cosmetics, beverage, and tobacco industries. The quality of vanilla pods depends on their preparation. Objectives. This work aims to quantitatively determine the rate of five aromatic quality marker compounds in five selected vanilla species cultivated in Madagascar and to understand the evolution of these compounds during the maturity and preparation of the pods. Method. High-Performance Liquid Chromatography (HPLC) analysis was undertaken on five Vanilla species, including Vanilla planifolia Andrews, V. pompona Schiede, V. tsy taitry, V. planifolia var. sterile and V. planifolia var. tsy vaky, to assess the concentration of the marker compounds, including vanillin (VAN), p-hydroxybenzoic acid (p-HBAc), vanillic acid (VAc), guaiacol (GUA), and p-hydroxybenzaldehyde (p-HB), in the selected pods during their stage of collection and preparation. Results. VAN (2.63-45.30 µg·ml-1 at 6 months old; 8.72-122.66 µg·ml-1 at 9 months old; 26.81-60.69 µg·ml-1 after the drying process and 13.35-105.03 µg·ml-1 after the conditioning process) was the major component followed by the p-HB (7.59 µg·ml-1 for V. pompona at 6 months old; 5.52-24.47 µg·ml-1 at 9 months old; 5.40-14.72 µg·ml-1 after the drying process and 4.69-24.84 µg·ml-1 after the conditioning process) in each vanilla species. Generally, VAN concentration increased from the 6th to the 9th month then decreased after the drying process and increased again after the conditioning process. Guaiacol was not detected in all species during the stages of collection and preparation. Conclusions. Vanilla planifolia or V. fragrance remains the vanilla with the highest concentration of the important marker compounds suggesting that it could have the best quality among those selected in this study making this species still the most traded in the international market.

PENGARUH PEMBERIAN URINE KELINCI DENGAN KONSENTRASI YANG BERBEDA TERHADAP PERTUMBUHAN SETEK VANILI

Vanilla plant propagation is usually done by cutting. Vanilla cuttings that are grown are expected to develop optimally into seeds which will eventually produce well. The thing that needs to be considered to support the growth of vanilla cuttings at a later stage is the adequacy of the supply of nutrients and growth determinants or PGR. Rabbit urine is a natural substance that contains certain nutrients and PGR which can be added to support the growth and development of vanilla cuttings. This experiment aims to examine the effect of rabbit urine on the growth of vanilla cuttings. The experiment was conducted at the Office of the Sindanglaya Plantation Seeding Center, Bandung, West Java from August to November 2022. The experimental method was experimental using a completely randomized design with treatment without rabbit urine and rabbit urine with concentrations of 5%, 10% 15%, 20% respectively. Each treatment was repeated five times. The experimental results showed that administration of 15% concentration of rabbit urine produced the best growth in the parameters of the number of roots, number of leaves and shoot length of vanilla cuttings up to the age of 14 WAP

Cultivation potential of Vanilla crop wild relatives in two contrasting land use systems

Vanilla is an important cash crop for many smallholder farmers around the tropics, and a highly appreciated spice used in a wide range of products. The crop species Vanilla planifolia is, however, facing a number of threats that are jeopardizing a stable vanilla supply. The neotropical realm holds at least 37 fragrant Vanilla species besides V. planifolia. These so-called Vanilla crop wild relatives (CWRs) possibly possess interesting traits for crop improvement and market diversification, but received meager attention so far. The aim of our study was therefore to provide insights into the cultivation potential of four Vanilla CWRs (Vanilla hartii, V. odorata, V. pompona and V. trigonocarpa) naturally growing within our study region in southern Costa Rica, by comparing their plant performance and aromatic profiles with V. planifolia and a commercially used hybrid, and this in two types of land use systems where vanilla could possibly be introduced. As such, we established six field sites in secondary forests (SF), adding economic value to these often undervalued ecosystems, and six in existing cacao plantations (CP), diversifying monocrop agrosystems. First, we measured plant survival, vitality and growth over a period of two years, and compared these plant performance traits among Vanilla species and land use systems using (generalized) additive mixed models. The models also enabled us to observe possible effects of additionally measured, site-specific environmental variables on vanilla plant performance. Second, we evaluated the aromatic potential of Vanilla CWR pods using high-performance liquid chromatography. We found that the hybrid had the highest overall plant vitality and growth, and this in both CPs and SFs, while V. planifolia was characterized by a rather low vitality, but high growth rates, and clearly performed inferior in SFs. The CWRs had a good overall vitality, and this in the two land use systems, but were characterized by lower growth rates compared to the hybrid and V. planifolia. The aromatic profiles of the Vanilla CWR pods indicated potential for market diversification, with V. odorata highly resembling the profile of the commercially used species. The other CWRs had varied profiles, with especially V. hartii containing high anisyl contents interesting for niche markets. Based on our assessment of Vanilla CWR plant performance and aromatic profiles, we see potential for their integration within the two studied land use systems. Corresponding planting designs should, however, take into account species-specific light intensity preferences, monitor chemical properties and the presence of growth-promoting and disease-suppressive soil microbiota, and incorporate vanilla tutor and shade trees with optimal functional traits. We developed a possible vanilla cultivation design that could be implemented for further evaluation in terms of production feasibility.

Significant production of vanillin and in vitro amplification of ech gene in local bacterial isolates

Abstract Vanillin is the major component which is responsible for flavor and aroma of vanilla extract and is produced by 3 ways: natural extraction from vanilla plant, chemical synthesis and from microbial transformation. Current research was aimed to study bacterial production of vanillin from native natural sources including sewage and soil from industrial areas. The main objective was vanillin bio-production by isolating bacteria from these native sources. Also to adapt methodologies to improve vanillin production by optimized fermentation media and growth conditions. 47 soil and 13 sewage samples were collected from different industrial regions of Lahore, Gujranwala, Faisalabad and Kasur. 67.7% bacterial isolates produced vanillin and 32.3% were non-producers. From these 279 producers, 4 bacterial isolates selected as significant producers were; A3, A4, A7 and A10. These isolates were identified by ribotyping as A3 Pseudomonas fluorescence (KF408302), A4 Enterococcus faecium (KT356807), A7 Alcaligenes faecalis (MW422815) and A10 Bacillus subtilis (KT962919). Vanillin producers were further tested for improved production of vanillin and were grown in different fermentation media under optimized growth conditions for enhanced production of vanillin. The fermentation media (FM) were; clove oil based, rice bran waste (residues oil) based, wheat bran based and modified isoeugenol based. In FM5, FM21, FM22, FM23, FM24, FM30, FM31, FM32, FM34, FM35, FM36, and FM37, the selected 4 bacterial strains produced significant amounts of vanillin. A10 B. subtilis produced maximum amount of vanillin. This strain produced 17.3 g/L vanillin in FM36. Cost of this fermentation medium 36 was 131.5 rupees/L. This fermentation medium was modified isoeugenol based medium with 1% of isoeugenol and 2.5 g/L soybean meal. ech gene was amplified in A3 P. fluorescence using ech specific primers. As vanillin use as flavor has increased tremendously, the bioproduction of vanillin must be focused.

Is a spice missing from the recipe? The intra-cellular localization of vanillin biosynthesis needs further investigations.

Vanillin is the most popular flavor compound in the world. Substantial effort were made in the last decades to completely elucidate the metabolic pathway that leads to vanillin in plants, with some controversy reported. In V. planifolia, vanillin biosynthesis occurs in plastids or in redifferentiated-plastids termed ''phenyloplasts''. More recently, it was shown that all enzymes required for the conversion of [14 C]-phenylalanine to [14 C]-vanillin-glucoside are confined within that organelle. However, knowing that some of these enzymes are cytosolic or ER-membrane bound in most plant species, it raises questions on the interpretation of data obtained from the technique used and on the true localization of the biosynthetic enzymes in V.planifolia. In addition, intense debate has emerged about the real participation of last enzyme of the pathway involving vanillin synthase (VpVAN) in the direct conversion of ferulic acid to vanillin. With the discovery of another enzyme capable of this conversion and the lack of activity of VpVAN invitro, further disagreement emerged. One additional challenge to VpVAN being necessary and sufficient is that the transcript for this protein is abundant invarious non-vanillin-producing tissues of the vanilla plant. In this viewpoint, we discuss the findings surrounding the cellular-localization and activity of enzymes of vanillin biosynthesis. This will help to further understand the pathway and urge for additional research study to resolve the debate.

Proline Reduction and Increasing Growth of Vanilla Plants Induced by BNR Fungus with Dose of Goat Manure and Husk Charcoal

Goat manure and husk charcoal are agricultural wastes that have not been used optimally, contain soil microorganisms that are effective in converting nutrients into more perfect forms, play a role in improving soil physical properties and increase the ability of soil to bind nutrients. The purpose of this study is to determine the effect of goat manure and husk charcoal to proline reduction and increase growth of vanilla plant induced by Binucleate Rhizoctonia (BNR). The study was designed with a factorial completely randomized block design. The first factor is the dose of manure (0,5,10,15) g/plant, the second factor is the dose of husk charcoal (0,5, 10, 15) g/plant. Data were analyzed by analysis of variance ANOVA with Duncan's Multiple Distance Test (DMRT) with a significant difference of 5%. The effect of doses of goat manure and husk charcoal induced by BNR can reduce proline contents and increase growth of vanilla plant. The benefit of this research is to provide treatment information to reduce proline levels and increase plant growth with the application of goat fertilizer and husk charcoal.

Pelatihan Peningkatan Pemahaman Penggunaan Facebook dan Instagram pada Kelompok Petani Vanili dalam Penyebaran Informasi Pertanian

Vanilla (Vanilla planifolia) has a high price due to the complicated cultivation and harvesting process, which is also faced by PKM partners. The Balinese vanilla farmer group has started to recover from the slump that almost 10 years of vanilla production in Bali was attacked by stem rot pests. The purpose of this PKM activity is to provide training to PKM Partners on the use of social media in disseminating information about the vanilla plant. The stages of PKM activities include the stages of identification, preparation, implementation, monitoring and evaluation as well as reporting and publication. PKM activities will be held on 27 June 2021 and 5 July 2021 with a focus on training on the use of Facebook and Instagram. This PKM activity was attended by 6 vanilla farmers. Based on the pretest and posttest, there was an increase in knowledge from the previous pretest value of 42.74%, in the posttest it increased to 75.24%. PKM activities have been successfully implemented and achieved in good conditions.

PENGARUH KOMBINASI IAA (Indole-3-Acetic Acid) DAN BAP (6-Benzylaminopurine) TERHADAP INISIASI TANAMAN VANILI (Vanilla planifolia Andrews)

Provision of Vanilla (Vanilla planifolia Andrews) with traditional cultivation often has problems, including the availability of unhealthy seeds due to disease caused by Fusarium oxysporum. This disease can thwart vanilla plantations up to 85% because the pathogen can infect all parts of the vanilla plant making it difficult to control efforts. Alternative efforts were made to overcome this problem, namely through the initiation process in tissue culture by combining the hormones IAA (indole-3-acetic acid) and BAP (6-benzylaminopurine). This study aims to determine the effect and the maximum concentration of the combination of IAA and BAP on the initiation of vanilla plants. This study was conducted based on a completely randomized design (CRD) with 5 treatments and 3 repetitions. This treatment consisted of: A (MS + 0.1 ppm IAA + 1 ppm BAP), B (MS + 0.2 ppm IAA + 1 ppm BAP), C (MS + 0.3 ppm IAA + 1 ppm BAP), D (MS + 0.4 ppm IAA + 1 ppm BAP), and E (MS + 0.5 ppm IAA + 1 ppm BAP). Observations were made after 40 days from the planting process. The results showed that the concentration of the combination of IAA and BAP can affect the growth and organogenesis of the initiation of vanilla plants (Vanilla planifolia Andrews). Treatment C (MS + 0.3 ppm IAA + 1 ppm BAP) was the best concentration from this study, with average values: number of shoots (1), shoot length (1.73 cm), number of roots (1), and number of leaves (1.33).

Strikingly high amount of tricin-lignin observed from vanilla (Vanilla planifolia) aerial roots

The aerial roots of vanilla plant contain an strikingly high level of tricin in lignin (29.1 mg g−1). It will be a noteworthy feedstock for value-added chemicals and commodities to advance plant bioengineering and lignin valorization.

Pure Shift Nuclear Magnetic Resonance: a New Tool for Plant Metabolomics.

Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR) is one of the most powerful tools used in metabolomics. It stands as a highly accurate and reproducible method that not only provides quantitative data but also permits structural identification of the metabolites present in complex mixtures. Metabolic profiling by 1H NMR has proven useful in the study of various types of plant scenarios, which include the evaluation of cropconditions, harvest and post- harvest treatments, metabolic phenotyping, metabolic pathways, gene regulation, identification of biomarkers, chemotaxonomy, quality control, denomination of origin, among others. However, signal overlapping of the large number of resonances with expanded J-coupling multiplicities complicates the spectra analysis and its interpretation, and represents a limitation for classical 1H NMR profiling. In the last decade, novel NMR broadband homonuclear decoupling techniques through which multiplet signals collapse into single resonance lines - commonly called Pure Shift methods - have been developed to overcome the spectra resolution problem inherent to 1H NMR classical spectra. Here a step-by-step protocol of the plant extract preparation and the procedure to record optimal Pure Shift PSYCHE and SAPPHIRE-PSYCHE spectra in three different plant matrices - Vanilla plantleaves, potato tubers (S. tuberosum), and Cape gooseberries (P. peruviana) - is presented. The effect of the gain in resolution in metabolic identification, correlation analysis and multivariate analyses, as compared against classical spectra, is discussed.

Identification and Assessment of Soil Physical and Chemical Properties for Vanili Plants in North Tinangkung District, Banggai Islands Regency

Soil physical and chemical properties are the main factors that significantly influence vanilla production. This study aimed to identify the soil’s physical and chemical properties, determine the soil fertility status, and evaluate the soil suitability for vanilla plants cultivated at three villages in Tinangkung Utara District. This research has been carried out at the long-term monoculture of the vanilla plantation. The soil fertility properties have determined based on physical properties such as texture (pipete method) and chemical properties such as pH, organic C content (Walkey and Black), P2O5 (olsen) and K2O (HCL25%), base saturation/KB dan cation exchange capacity/CEC ) NH4OAc pH7). The data then matched to PPT soil fertility and BBSDLP land evaluation criteria for the vanilla plant. The result showed that the soil in the study site has clayey texture, neutral soil reaction, moderate KB and P2O5, and moderate to high CEC. On the other hand, the soil exhibited lower content of organic C and K2O. Despite soil fertility status determined as low, the evaluation analysis resulted marginally suitable, which could be optimised to highly suitable.

SISTEM PAKAR DIAGNOSIS PENYAKIT PADA TANAMAN VANILI MENGGUNAKAN METODE DEMPSTER-SHAFER BERBASIS WEB

Vanilla (Vanilla planifolia Andrews) is an industrial plant that has high economic value as a foreign exchange-producing export commodity that is still potential to be developed in Indonesia. Vanilla is widely used in Indonesia as an auxiliary material for the food industry and in fragrance medicine. However, the high demand for vanilla is not balanced with an adequate level of productivity due to several obstacles in the development of vanilla in Indonesia. The main cause of obstacles in vanilla cultivation in Indonesia is the lack of understanding of vanilla farmers regarding diseases that attack vanilla plants. Therefore in this study an expert system was built that could diagnose vanilla plant diseases based on knowledge obtained from the experts directly. Expert system is built based on the web using the PHP programming language and Mysql database. The inference method used is the Dempster-shafer method. In this study consisted of 5 diseases and 16 symptoms data. Test results show that: (1) Expertise testing by comparing the results of expert diagnoses and the system is appropriate and runs very well with a total average accuracy of 99.50% (2) External testing using a questionnaire involving 20 respondents namely students of the Plantation Plant Cultivation show that the system built has an average total percentage value of 82.5% with the category Very Good .

The Effects of Biopesticide and Fusarium oxysporum f.sp. vanillae on the Nutrient Content of Binucleate Rhizoctonia-Induced Vanilla Plant

Binucleate Rhizoctonia (BNR) fungi are essential for the germination of vanilla seeds. Chemical control of the soil-borne pathogen might adversely affect BNR. The purpose of this study is to determine the effect of Nicotiana tabacum extract biopesticides and Fusarium oxysporum f.sp. vanillae (Fusarium) on vanilla plant nutrient content induced by BNR. Materials and Methods. The research design was completely randomized design with two factors and three replications. The first factor was biopesticide (dosage of 0, 10, 20, and 30 ml/seedling), and the second factor was the application of Fusarium. Results. The increase in the nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium content of vanilla was affected by biopesticides and Fusarium inoculation. Fusarium inoculation has no significant effect on nitrogen and phosphorus levels but significantly affects potassium levels. The biopesticide dosage is significant for nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium. The interaction of biopesticides with Fusarium inoculation did not significantly affect the parameters of nitrogen and phosphorus content, but significantly affected potassium content. Conclusion. The application of biopesticides and Fusarium inoculation after induction of BNR can increase nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium content of vanilla plants.

Vegetative growth of vanilla cuttings after addition of weed clippings mulch under 2 climatic condition, wet and dry seasons

Experiments were performed to determine the effect of allelochemicals released by weed clipping on the growth of vanilla cuttings. The objective of these experiments was to find out safe plant material for mulching vanilla plantation. The first experiment was conducted in the wet season, where two nodes cuttings were transplanted into 5 groups of pots containing topsoil and mulched with grass (G), fern (F), taro (T), dry leaf (DL) and without mulch as control cuttings (C). The second experiment was under dry season but using a similar procedure like that in the first experiment except dry leaf was replaced with coconut husk (CH). These two experiments were using 8 replicates and grown in a shaded greenhouse. Phenolic compounds in weed clippings were examined using the Folin-Ciocalteu method. This study found that fern and taro clipping decreased soil pH, delayed emergence of new root and bud burst in vanilla cutting. By contrast, grass clipping, dry leaf and coconut husk did not decrease soil pH and did not delay root emergence and bud burst. The growth rate of the new stem in grass added plant was 1.4 folds relative control but only 0.4 fold in taro added plants. It is concluded that vanilla plant resistant to phenolic compound released by grass clipping, but susceptible to phenolic compound released by taro clipping.

Effects of <i>Bacillus cereus</i> F-6 on Promoting Vanilla (<i>Vanilla planifolia</i> Andrews.) Plant Growth and Controlling Stem and Root Rot Disease

A lipopeptide-producing bacterium, Bacillus cereus (F-6), was isolated from the rhizosphere soil of a healthy vanilla (Vanilla planifolia) plant cultivated on a plantation under 21 years of continuous cropping with vanilla. A pot experiment was conducted to investigate the effects of the green fluorescent protein-tagged F-6 (F-6-gfp) and its bio-organic fertilizer (BIO) on vanilla plant growth and stem and root rot disease, using the same plantation soil. The application of BIO significantly increased the vanilla plant root, stem and leave dry weights; however, there was not a significant difference between the F-6-gfp-inoculated treatment and the control. Meanwhile, the BIO application also significantly reduced the severity of stem and root rot disease compared to the control. The rhizosphere soil population of Fusarium was approximately 10-fold smaller in the BIO treatment compared to the control treatment at 150 days after transplantation. The number of B. cereus F-6-gfp in the rhizosphere soil of the BIO treatment remained significantly higher than that of the F-6-gfp-inoculated treatment throughout the experiment. In conclusion, F-6-gfp successfully colonized the rhizosphere soil in the BIO treatment, promoting vanilla plant growth, reducing the disease severity index, and decreasing the Fusarium population number, helping to remove barriers to the continuous cropping of vanilla.

Nutrient status and vegetative growth of Vanilla planifolia Jacks plants as affected by fertilization and organic substrate composition

The cultivation of vanilla (Vanilla planifolia Jacks) is promissory in Colombia, however, its nutritional requirements are currently unknown. In this study the hypothesis was that vanilla plant nutrient status and growth depends on the substrate composition and fertilization applied. Experimental plots of 0.8 x 0.8 x 0.2 m were filled out each two months with additional 10 L of a substrate containing either woodchips (WC) or coconut fiber (CF) and leaf litter (LL) in different volumetric proportions (%) (75:25, 50:50, 25:75). Four annual doses of a chemical fertilizer (grade 27-11-11) were applied: 0, 20, 60, and 140 g per plant. Results indicate that there was a highly significant (P ≤ 0.01) interaction between substrate and fertilization on plant growth. Shoot length of vanilla plants was significantly increased with the fertilization dose of 20 g per plant only in the substrates composed by 75% of either CF or WC and 25% of LL. The presence of CF produced foliar contents of P, K, Cu, Mg, and Mn significantly higher (P ≤ 0.05) than those obtained when WC was used in the substrate. On the contrary, the presence of WC in the substrate significantly (P ≤ 0.05) increased foliar N and Ca contents in respect to those levels observed with CF in the growth substrate.