Title : Physical and biochemical stimulants of crop performance
Abstract:
The current challenges of crop agriculture include facing climate change, depleted natural resources, and plant diseases, increasing the intensity of biotic and abiotic stresses that lead to losses of crop productivity. Although maximizing crop production relies on the use of chemical inputs such as pesticides and fertilizers to enhance crop performance, these synthetic chemicals threaten the environment and cause unsustainability of future agriculture. In this study, an alternative ecofriendly system is presented to stimulate crop performance through magnetic seed priming and the usage of natural biochemical stimulants.
The magnetic-primed seed showed a significant increase in germination rate and speed, where, primed plants exhibited enhanced growth characteristics, including longer shoots and roots, larger leaf area, more root hairs, higher water content, and more tolerance to salinity levels, up to 200mM NaCl. Seed mineral analysis showed a redistribution between the embryo and endosperm, On the other hand, plants treated with Azaphilone pigment, derived from Talaromyces fungi, developed trichomes, root hairs, higher biomass, root to shoot ratio, and tolerance to 150mM NaCl. Results of this study illustrate the positive effects of the physical magnet priming and the biochemical stimulation effect on the growth and development of crops in terms of its germination, growth, and salinity tolerance.
