Effects of Wood Distillate on Seedling Emergence and First-Stage Growth in Five Threatened Arable Plants
Wood distillate (WD) is an environmentally safe bio-based product stimulating plant growth and yield and allowed in Italy in organic farming. To the best of our knowledge, there are no studies on the effects of WD on spontaneous plants growing among crops, including their functional traits such as b...
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MDPI AG
2022-08-01
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| Online Access: | https://www.mdpi.com/1424-2818/14/8/669 |
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| author | Emanuele Fanfarillo Riccardo Fedeli Tiberio Fiaschi Leopoldo de Simone Andrea Vannini Claudia Angiolini Stefano Loppi Simona Maccherini |
| author_facet | Emanuele Fanfarillo Riccardo Fedeli Tiberio Fiaschi Leopoldo de Simone Andrea Vannini Claudia Angiolini Stefano Loppi Simona Maccherini |
| author_sort | Emanuele Fanfarillo |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Wood distillate (WD) is an environmentally safe bio-based product stimulating plant growth and yield and allowed in Italy in organic farming. To the best of our knowledge, there are no studies on the effects of WD on spontaneous plants growing among crops, including their functional traits such as biomass. To test such effects, we carried out a lab experiment on artificially reconstructed arable plant communities composed of five species of conservation interest, which are specialist winter cereal crops: <i>Bromus secalinus</i> L., <i>Centaurea cyanus</i> L., <i>Lathyrus aphaca</i> L., <i>Legousia speculum-veneris</i> (L.) Chaix, and <i>Scandix pecten-veneris</i> L. After sowing 45 pots under controlled conditions, we applied WD at three concentrations (0%, 0.2%, and 0.5%) six times over 7 weeks. The number of emerged plants in each pot was counted every two weeks. Finally, we harvested all plants and measured the fresh and dry above-ground weight of each species in each pot. The resulting data were analyzed by Permutational Analysis of Variance. The application of 0.2% and 0.5% WD modified the community composition after two weeks, but such differences later disappeared. Both 0.2% and 0.5% WD had a positive effect on the dry weight of <i>S. pecten-veneris</i> and a negative effect on that of <i>L. speculum-veneris</i>. Moreover, 0.2% and 0.5% WD increased seedling emergence in <i>L. aphaca</i>, and 0.5% WD increased seedling emergence in <i>S. pecten-veneris</i>. Both 0.2% and 0.5% WD enhanced seedling emergence in the entire community. We suggest that the use of WD at low concentrations in winter cereals may be a sustainable agricultural practice that benefits crops without harming the associated plant diversity. |
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| issn | 1424-2818 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-09T09:58:19Z |
| publishDate | 2022-08-01 |
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| spelling | doaj.art-6eae09c5055841dbadc7d1d51e97bcf42023-12-01T23:37:24ZengMDPI AGDiversity1424-28182022-08-0114866910.3390/d14080669Effects of Wood Distillate on Seedling Emergence and First-Stage Growth in Five Threatened Arable PlantsEmanuele Fanfarillo0Riccardo Fedeli1Tiberio Fiaschi2Leopoldo de Simone3Andrea Vannini4Claudia Angiolini5Stefano Loppi6Simona Maccherini7Department of Life Sciences, University of Siena, Via PA Mattioli 4, 53100 Siena, ItalyDepartment of Life Sciences, University of Siena, Via PA Mattioli 4, 53100 Siena, ItalyDepartment of Life Sciences, University of Siena, Via PA Mattioli 4, 53100 Siena, ItalyDepartment of Life Sciences, University of Siena, Via PA Mattioli 4, 53100 Siena, ItalyDepartment of Chemistry, Life Sciences, and Environmental Sustainability, University of Parma, Parco Area delle Scienze 11/a, 43124 Parma, ItalyDepartment of Life Sciences, University of Siena, Via PA Mattioli 4, 53100 Siena, ItalyDepartment of Life Sciences, University of Siena, Via PA Mattioli 4, 53100 Siena, ItalyDepartment of Life Sciences, University of Siena, Via PA Mattioli 4, 53100 Siena, ItalyWood distillate (WD) is an environmentally safe bio-based product stimulating plant growth and yield and allowed in Italy in organic farming. To the best of our knowledge, there are no studies on the effects of WD on spontaneous plants growing among crops, including their functional traits such as biomass. To test such effects, we carried out a lab experiment on artificially reconstructed arable plant communities composed of five species of conservation interest, which are specialist winter cereal crops: <i>Bromus secalinus</i> L., <i>Centaurea cyanus</i> L., <i>Lathyrus aphaca</i> L., <i>Legousia speculum-veneris</i> (L.) Chaix, and <i>Scandix pecten-veneris</i> L. After sowing 45 pots under controlled conditions, we applied WD at three concentrations (0%, 0.2%, and 0.5%) six times over 7 weeks. The number of emerged plants in each pot was counted every two weeks. Finally, we harvested all plants and measured the fresh and dry above-ground weight of each species in each pot. The resulting data were analyzed by Permutational Analysis of Variance. The application of 0.2% and 0.5% WD modified the community composition after two weeks, but such differences later disappeared. Both 0.2% and 0.5% WD had a positive effect on the dry weight of <i>S. pecten-veneris</i> and a negative effect on that of <i>L. speculum-veneris</i>. Moreover, 0.2% and 0.5% WD increased seedling emergence in <i>L. aphaca</i>, and 0.5% WD increased seedling emergence in <i>S. pecten-veneris</i>. Both 0.2% and 0.5% WD enhanced seedling emergence in the entire community. We suggest that the use of WD at low concentrations in winter cereals may be a sustainable agricultural practice that benefits crops without harming the associated plant diversity.https://www.mdpi.com/1424-2818/14/8/669agroecologyarable weedbiodiversityfunctional traitpyroligneous acidsegetal plant |
| spellingShingle | Emanuele Fanfarillo Riccardo Fedeli Tiberio Fiaschi Leopoldo de Simone Andrea Vannini Claudia Angiolini Stefano Loppi Simona Maccherini Effects of Wood Distillate on Seedling Emergence and First-Stage Growth in Five Threatened Arable Plants Diversity agroecology arable weed biodiversity functional trait pyroligneous acid segetal plant |
| title | Effects of Wood Distillate on Seedling Emergence and First-Stage Growth in Five Threatened Arable Plants |
| title_full | Effects of Wood Distillate on Seedling Emergence and First-Stage Growth in Five Threatened Arable Plants |
| title_fullStr | Effects of Wood Distillate on Seedling Emergence and First-Stage Growth in Five Threatened Arable Plants |
| title_full_unstemmed | Effects of Wood Distillate on Seedling Emergence and First-Stage Growth in Five Threatened Arable Plants |
| title_short | Effects of Wood Distillate on Seedling Emergence and First-Stage Growth in Five Threatened Arable Plants |
| title_sort | effects of wood distillate on seedling emergence and first stage growth in five threatened arable plants |
| topic | agroecology arable weed biodiversity functional trait pyroligneous acid segetal plant |
| url | https://www.mdpi.com/1424-2818/14/8/669 |
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