Influence of green algae Chlorella vulgaris on initial growth of different agricultural crops

Abstract

The aim of this research was to evaluate the effect of green algae Chlorella vulgaris on the initial growth of wheat, maize, bean and lettuce and the microbiological activity of rhizospheric soil. The experiment was conducted in controlled conditions. The inocula were applied as foliar fertilizer by spraying. Plant material was taken 30 days after plant emergance. Chlorella vulgaris affected positively the length (28.5% increase) and fresh mass (17.9% increase) of maize root, stem length of wheat (24.2% increase) and stem mass of lettuce (56.34% increase). Application of Chlorella vulgaris led to the increase of the total number of bacteria and the number of aminoheterotrophs in the maize rhizosphere, total bacterial number in the wheat rhizosphere, and the number of fungi in the rhizosphere of bean. The number of other investigated groups of microorganisms did not change significantly. The activity of dehydrogenase enzyme was not affected by inoculation with green algae.

Keywords

• green algae
• foliar treatment
• stimulation of growth