Characterizing Effects of Microbial Biostimulants and Whole-Soil Inoculums for Native Plant Revegetation
Soil microbes play important roles in plant health and ecosystem functioning, however, they can often be disturbed or depleted in degraded lands. During seed-based revegetation of such sites there is often very low germination and seedling establishment success, with recruitment of beneficial microb...
| Main Authors: | , , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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MDPI AG
2022-12-01
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| Series: | Microorganisms |
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| Online Access: | https://www.mdpi.com/2076-2607/11/1/55 |
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| author | Matthew Alfonzetti Sebastien Doleac Charlotte H. Mills Rachael V. Gallagher Sasha Tetu |
| author_facet | Matthew Alfonzetti Sebastien Doleac Charlotte H. Mills Rachael V. Gallagher Sasha Tetu |
| author_sort | Matthew Alfonzetti |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Soil microbes play important roles in plant health and ecosystem functioning, however, they can often be disturbed or depleted in degraded lands. During seed-based revegetation of such sites there is often very low germination and seedling establishment success, with recruitment of beneficial microbes to the rhizosphere one potential contributor to this problem. Here we investigated whether Australian native plant species may benefit from planting seed encapsulated within extruded seed pellets amended with one of two microbe-rich products: a commercial vermicast extract biostimulant or a whole-soil inoculum from a healthy reference site of native vegetation. Two manipulative glasshouse trials assessing the performance of two Australian native plant species (<i>Acacia parramattensis</i> and <i>Indigofera australis</i>) were carried out in both unmodified field-collected soil (trial 1) and in the same soil reduced in nutrients and microbes (trial 2). Seedling emergence and growth were compared between pelleted and bare-seeded controls and analyzed alongside soil nutrient concentrations and culturable microbial community assessments. The addition of microbial amendments maintained, but did not improve upon, high levels of emergence in both plant species relative to unamended pellets. In trial 1, mean time to emergence of <i>Acacia parramattensis</i> seedlings was slightly shorter in both amended pellet types relative to the standard pellets, and in trial 2, whole-soil inoculum pellets showed significantly improved growth metrics. This work shows that there is potential for microbial amendments to positively affect native plant emergence and growth, however exact effects are dependent on the type of amendment, the plant species, and the characteristics of the planting site soil. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-09T11:38:52Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-14cbec22d95c4ee7a5d9e4457516de37 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2076-2607 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-09T11:38:52Z |
| publishDate | 2022-12-01 |
| publisher | MDPI AG |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Microorganisms |
| spelling | doaj.art-14cbec22d95c4ee7a5d9e4457516de372023-11-30T23:35:45ZengMDPI AGMicroorganisms2076-26072022-12-011115510.3390/microorganisms11010055Characterizing Effects of Microbial Biostimulants and Whole-Soil Inoculums for Native Plant RevegetationMatthew Alfonzetti0Sebastien Doleac1Charlotte H. Mills2Rachael V. Gallagher3Sasha Tetu4School of Natural Sciences, Macquarie University, Sydney, NSW 2109, AustraliaSchool of Natural Sciences, Macquarie University, Sydney, NSW 2109, AustraliaAirSeed Technologies Australia Pty Ltd., Sydney, NSW 2000, AustraliaHawkesbury Institute for the Environment, Western Sydney University, Locked Bag 1797, Penrith, NSW 2751, AustraliaSchool of Natural Sciences, Macquarie University, Sydney, NSW 2109, AustraliaSoil microbes play important roles in plant health and ecosystem functioning, however, they can often be disturbed or depleted in degraded lands. During seed-based revegetation of such sites there is often very low germination and seedling establishment success, with recruitment of beneficial microbes to the rhizosphere one potential contributor to this problem. Here we investigated whether Australian native plant species may benefit from planting seed encapsulated within extruded seed pellets amended with one of two microbe-rich products: a commercial vermicast extract biostimulant or a whole-soil inoculum from a healthy reference site of native vegetation. Two manipulative glasshouse trials assessing the performance of two Australian native plant species (<i>Acacia parramattensis</i> and <i>Indigofera australis</i>) were carried out in both unmodified field-collected soil (trial 1) and in the same soil reduced in nutrients and microbes (trial 2). Seedling emergence and growth were compared between pelleted and bare-seeded controls and analyzed alongside soil nutrient concentrations and culturable microbial community assessments. The addition of microbial amendments maintained, but did not improve upon, high levels of emergence in both plant species relative to unamended pellets. In trial 1, mean time to emergence of <i>Acacia parramattensis</i> seedlings was slightly shorter in both amended pellet types relative to the standard pellets, and in trial 2, whole-soil inoculum pellets showed significantly improved growth metrics. This work shows that there is potential for microbial amendments to positively affect native plant emergence and growth, however exact effects are dependent on the type of amendment, the plant species, and the characteristics of the planting site soil.https://www.mdpi.com/2076-2607/11/1/55microbial amendmentprobioticplant growth-promoting bacteriaPGPBseed enhancement technologyseed coating |
| spellingShingle | Matthew Alfonzetti Sebastien Doleac Charlotte H. Mills Rachael V. Gallagher Sasha Tetu Characterizing Effects of Microbial Biostimulants and Whole-Soil Inoculums for Native Plant Revegetation Microorganisms microbial amendment probiotic plant growth-promoting bacteria PGPB seed enhancement technology seed coating |
| title | Characterizing Effects of Microbial Biostimulants and Whole-Soil Inoculums for Native Plant Revegetation |
| title_full | Characterizing Effects of Microbial Biostimulants and Whole-Soil Inoculums for Native Plant Revegetation |
| title_fullStr | Characterizing Effects of Microbial Biostimulants and Whole-Soil Inoculums for Native Plant Revegetation |
| title_full_unstemmed | Characterizing Effects of Microbial Biostimulants and Whole-Soil Inoculums for Native Plant Revegetation |
| title_short | Characterizing Effects of Microbial Biostimulants and Whole-Soil Inoculums for Native Plant Revegetation |
| title_sort | characterizing effects of microbial biostimulants and whole soil inoculums for native plant revegetation |
| topic | microbial amendment probiotic plant growth-promoting bacteria PGPB seed enhancement technology seed coating |
| url | https://www.mdpi.com/2076-2607/11/1/55 |
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