Abstract
Background and aims
Neutralization of adverse environmental effects of agriculture intensification to sustain population growth, requires ecologically sound alternatives for plant growth. We used as biostimulants towards germination of basil seeds and early growth of maize, two different humic materials: a potassium humate from leonardite (KH), and compost tea (CT) from a green compost made of coffee husks, and a 1:1 combination of the two (MIX). After their thorough chemical, molecular and conformational characterization, a relation between structure and bioactivity was investigated.
Results
CT showed the largest bioactivity on either seed germination or maize plantlets growth due to its great content of polar bioactive molecules including oxidized lignin fragment, saccharides and peptides. The more hydrophobic KH, rich of alkyl and aromatic moieties, also exerted a significant bioactivity on maize, though to a lesser extent. The application of MIX to hydroponically grown maize plantlets showed a smaller bioactivity of polar CT molecules due to their entrapment into new suprastructures stabilized by hydrogen bonds formed with complementary functions of KH hydrophobic components. However, while the KH hydrophobicity in MIX ensured adhesion to roots, its conformational flexibility was still sufficient to provide a greater bioactivity than control, by releasing bioactive CT components capable to enhance both biomass yield and root elongation.
Conclusions
Our study suggests that a combination of humic materials with diverse and well-characterized molecular properties may become a new tool to produce innovative and ecologically viable plant growth promoters, whose bioactivity may be modulated.
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Acknowledgements
This work was conducted in partial fulfilment of first author requirements, to achieve an “industrial” PhD degree, funded by the Ministry of University and Reasearch (MUR) of Italy.
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The research was financially supported by the Ministry of University and Research (MUR) of Italy.
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C. Savarese, V. Cozzolino, A. Piccolo designed the study. V. Di Meo prepared green compost, provided technical advice and support. S. Cangemi, M. Verrillo, D. Savy assisted in sample analyses and data collection. C. Savarese, A. Piccolo, V. Cozzolino interpreted data. C. Savarese, A. Piccolo wrote the manuscript,
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Savarese, C., di Meo, V., Cangemi, S. et al. Bioactivity of two different humic materials and their combination on plants growth as a function of their molecular properties. Plant Soil 472, 509–526 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11104-021-05267-3
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11104-021-05267-3