Growth of tomato plantlets in soilless culture, enriched with egg shell waste and algae

In this research, it was aimed to use the Chlorella Vulgaris algae, and eggshell waste (ESW) as different mineral sources for tomato plant nutrition in soilless culture. Algae is seen as safe, sustainable energy source. Egg shell waste is known to be valuable for high calcium content and minerals therefore, has been considered as mineral enrichment source. Although there are several papers on the soil nutrition, there is not as much information on eggshell waste and algae use for plant production in soilless culture. In the controlled atmosphere of the laboratory, a set-up was constructed for pumping the liquid medium (hydroponics) circulating in the tubes holding the tomato plantlets. The liquid nutrient solutions used for soilless culture treatments were media enriched with algae, enriched with ESW and blank (hydroponic only). Research was conducted for 3 months, the final weight of harvested tomatoes and mineral uptake of the plant (stalk and tomato) for different treatments were measured. Algae added medium gave higher results in tomato weight, than ESW added and blank treatments. Results showed that algae and ESW addition led to increased Ca content in harvested tomato, as well as minerals such as B, K, Mg, and Zn. The results were as expected in terms of increase in mineral contents, but the statistics showed no significant difference between treatments.

Chemical composition and nutritional value of some varieties of soybean cultivated in Mongolia

Soybean has a lot of benefits for human nutrition, well-being and soil nutrition. Soybean seed contain higher concentration of protein and fat. The objective of this work was to evaluate the nutritional composition and mineral contents in soybean seeds of four different varieties of soybean for their future application as food products. The soybeans were cultivated in Mongolia. The moisture, protein, crude fat, reducing carbohydrate’s concentrations were determined by Kjeldahl, Soxhlet and Bertrand’s method in dried soybean seeds, and the calory of 100 g seed was calculated. The mineral concentration in the ash was determined by ICP-OES method. Among them, the Severnaya-4 variety contained the highest amount of protein, 31.5%, the Sibiryachka variety had the highest concentration of crude fat, 20.35%, and reducing sugar, 1.24%. Moreover, the Severnaya-4 and Sibiryachka soybean seeds had the highest mineral concentration. The lower concentration of protein of these four soybean varieties was probably due to the lower temperature during the seed-filling period in Mongolia. Sibiryachka and OAC vision had the highest amount of energy in 100 g raw seed than other two varieties. The Severnaya-4 and Sibiryachka soybean seeds could be better sources for protein, fat and minerals than the Nei dou-4 and OAC vision varieties.

Invasive Grass Dominance over Native Forbs Is Linked to Shifts in the Bacterial Rhizosphere Microbiome

Rhizosphere microbiomes have received growing attention in recent years for their role in plant health, stress tolerance, soil nutrition, and invasion. Still, relatively little is known about how these microbial communities are altered under plant competition, and even less about whether these shifts are tied to competitive outcomes between native and invasive plants. We investigated the structure and diversity of rhizosphere bacterial and fungal microbiomes of native annual forbs and invasive annual grasses grown in a shade-house both individually and in competition using high-throughput amplicon sequencing of the bacterial 16S rRNA gene and the fungal ITS region. We assessed how differentially abundant microbial families correlate to plant biomass under competition. We find that bacterial diversity and structure differ between native forbs and invasive grasses, but fungal diversity and structure do not. Furthermore, bacterial community structures under competition are distinct from individual bacterial community structures. We also identified five bacterial families that varied in normalized abundance between treatments and that were correlated with plant biomass under competition. We speculate that invasive grass dominance over these natives may be partially due to effects on the rhizosphere community, with changes in specific bacterial families potentially benefiting invaders at the expense of natives.

Research Advances in Allelopathy of Volatile Organic Compounds (VOCs) of Plants

Allelopathy is an ecological phenomenon in which organisms interfere with each other. As a management strategy in agricultural systems, allelopathy can be mainly used to control weeds, resist pests, and disease and improve the interaction of soil nutrition and microorganisms. Volatile organic compounds (VOCs) are allelochemicals volatilized from plants and have been widely demonstrated to have different ecological functions. This review provides the recent advance in the allelopathic effects of VOCs on plants, such as growth, competition, dormancy, resistance of diseases and insect pests, content of reactive oxygen species (ROS), enzyme activity, respiration, and photosynthesis. VOCs also participate in plant-to-plant communication as a signaling substance. The main methods of collection and identification of VOCs are briefly summarized in this article. It also points out the disadvantages of VOCs and suggests potential directions to enhance research and solve mysteries in this emerging area. It is necessary to study the allelopathic mechanisms of plant VOCs so as to provide a theoretical basis for VOC applications. In conclusion, allelopathy of VOCs released by plants is a more economical, environmentally friendly, and effective measure to develop substantial agricultural industry by using the allelopathic effects of plant natural products.

A Novel Bio-Fertilizer Produced by Prickly Ash Seeds with Biochar Addition Induces Soil Suppressiveness against Black Shank Disease on Tobacco

A novel bio-fertilizer, produced from prickly ash seeds (PAS), Bacillus subtilis and biochar, was evaluated for its disease-preventing potential on tobacco black shank caused by Phytophthora nicotianae. The results showed that biochar promoted the growth of Tpb55 in PAS and increased the pH of the organic fertilizer. The final concentration of B. subtilis could reach 1.7 × 1010 cfu g−1 in the biological organic fertilizer (PBB) under the optimal medium under conditions of solid-state fermentation. PBB exhibited a strong fumigation effect on P. nicotianae, including inhibiting mycelium growth, reducing the disease severity and decreasing the pathogen population in rhizospheric soil. PBB treatment also could significantly increase the pH of acidified soil and improve soil nutrition content such as available K, alkali hydrolysable N and organic carbon. High-throughput pyrosequencing of 16S and 18S rRNA genes revealed that 4% PBB addition in soil had significant effects on the diversity and richness of fungi but not on that of bacteria. The microbial community structure was also shifted after PBB treatment. Some potentially beneficial microbes such as Bacillus, Mucor, Cunninghamella, Chitinophaga and Phenylobacterium were enriched, while potential pathogen Fusarium was significantly decreased. In conclusion, the agricultural waste PAS combined with biochar can replace soybean as a source for the production of biocontrol B. subtilis Tpb55, and the novel bio-fertilizer could effectively control tobacco black shank by pathogen inhibition, soil nutrient improvement and shifting the rhizomicrobial community.

Assessment of Silicon and Nitrogen Fertilization on Plant and Soil Nutrition and Rice Yield Grown in Typic Ustifluvent Soil

Aim: Assess the effect of silicon and nitrogen application on chemical nutrition of plant and soil grown in Typic Ustifluvent soil Study design: Factorial RBD Place and duration of study: Field experiments was conducted in farmers holding in Kuttalam Block, Mayiladuthurai district. The experiment was conducted for two seasons Methodology: Field experiments was conducted in farmers holding during kuruvai and samba seasons to. The treatments consists of silicon levels viz., 0, 50,100 and 150 kg ha-1 and nitrogen levels viz., 0, 50,100, 150 kg ha-1. using rice as test crop var. ADT43 and CR1009.The grain and straw yield was recorded at harvest. The grain and straw samples were analyzed for nutrient contents and corresponding uptake was calculated. The soil samples were analyzed for nutrient status at different physiological stages. Results: The result revealed that graded doses of nitrogen and silicon applied alone or in combination caused significant improvement in rice yield over control. The rice yield reached its pinnacle (5600, 6786 kg ha-1) and straw yield (6811, 8031 kg ha-1) was noticed with 150 kg N ha-1 + 150 kg Si ha-1. However it was comparable with 150 kg N ha-1 + 100 kg Si ha-1 and 100 kg N ha-1 + 150 kg Si ha-1. The uptake increased with nitrogen and silicon levels. The highest nutrient uptake was recorded with 150 kg N ha-1 + 150 kg Si ha-1. It was comparable with 150 kg N ha-1 + 100 kg Si ha-1. Available nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium, and silicon increased with N and Si levels. The highest available N, P, K and Si was maximum when nitrogen and silicon was applied at 150 kg ha-1. Conclusion: Conjoint application of 150 kg N ha-1 and 150 kg Si ha-1 recommended to realize maximum yield of rice grown in soil low nitrogen and silicon

Pengendalian Kualitas Air untuk Tanaman Hidroponik Menggunakan Raspberry Pi dan Arduino Uno

Water quality is very important for plant’s growth and development. Some of the important part of the water qualities are TDS(Total Dissolved Solid), EC(Electrical Conductivity), pH(Acidity). Cultivation inside a greenhouse provides some benefits but also have some deficiency, such as lack of soil nutrition because most plants inside greenhouse uses non soil growing media. To overcome the deficiency, An automated and remote system is needed to ease the controlling of water quality and nutrition feeding to the plant. This study aims to create low-cost greenhouse water quality monitoring that automatically display the real time data on a website. This research is done by using an engineering design methods. This system can be integrated with auto-pot watering system . The result shows that the system can adjust the TDS and pH as programmed, which are TDS= 1000-1200, and pH =5.5-6.5(these are recommended needs for Tomato plant). The TDS sensor in this reseach have the limitation of reading 0~1500ppm.