Plants (Jul 2024)

Biostimulant and Arbuscular Mycorrhizae Application on Four Major Biomass Crops as the Base of Phytomanagement Strategies in Metal-Contaminated Soils

  • Pietro Peroni,
  • Qiao Liu,
  • Walter Zegada Lizarazu,
  • Shuai Xue,
  • Zili Yi,
  • Moritz Von Cossel,
  • Rossella Mastroberardino,
  • Eleni G. Papazoglou,
  • Andrea Monti,
  • Yasir Iqbal

DOI
https://doi.org/10.3390/plants13131866
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 13, no. 13
p. 1866

Abstract

Read online

Using contaminated land to grow lignocellulosic crops can deliver biomass and, in the long term, improve soil quality. Biostimulants and microorganisms are nowadays an innovative approach to define appropriate phytomanagement strategies to promote plant growth and metal uptake. This study evaluated biostimulants and mycorrhizae application on biomass production and phytoextraction potential of four lignocellulosic crops grown under two metal-contaminated soils. Two greenhouse pot trials were setup to evaluate two annual species (sorghum, hemp) in Italy and two perennial ones (miscanthus, switchgrass) in China, under mycorrhizae (M), root (B2) and foliar (B1) biostimulants treatments, based on humic substances and protein hydrolysates, respectively, applied both alone and in combination (MB1, MB2). MB2 increased the shoot dry weight (DW) yield in hemp (1.9 times more), sorghum (3.6 times more) and miscanthus (tripled) with additional positive effects on sorghum and miscanthus Zn and Cd accumulation, respectively, but no effects on hemp metal accumulation. No treatment promoted switchgrass shoot DW, but M enhanced Cd and Cr shoot concentrations (+84%, 1.6 times more, respectively) and the phytoextraction efficiency. Root biostimulants and mycorrhizae were demonstrated to be more efficient inputs than foliar biostimulants to enhance plant development and productivity in order to design effective phytomanagement strategies in metal-contaminated soil.

Keywords