IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jagris/v12y2022i8p1135-d877169.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Biochar Enhances Plant Growth, Fruit Yield, and Antioxidant Content of Cherry Tomato ( Solanum lycopersicum L.) in a Soilless Substrate

Author

Listed:
  • Melissa Simiele

    (Department of Biosciences and Territory, University of Molise, 86090 Pesche, Italy)

  • Oriana Argentino

    (Department of Biotechnology and Life Science, University of Insubria, 21100 Varese, Italy)

  • Silvia Baronti

    (IBE Institute of Bioeconomy-National Research Council, 50145 Firenze, Italy)

  • Gabriella Stefania Scippa

    (Department of Biosciences and Territory, University of Molise, 86090 Pesche, Italy)

  • Donato Chiatante

    (Department of Biotechnology and Life Science, University of Insubria, 21100 Varese, Italy)

  • Mattia Terzaghi

    (Department of Chemistry and Biology ‘A. Zambelli’, University of Salerno, 84084 Fisciano, Italy)

  • Antonio Montagnoli

    (Department of Biotechnology and Life Science, University of Insubria, 21100 Varese, Italy)

Abstract

Biochar soil amendment can improve growing medium water and nutrient status and crop productivity. A pot experiment was conducted using Solanum lycopersicum var. cerasiforme plants to investigate the effects of biochar amendment (20% application rate) on a soilless substrate, as well as on plant growth, fruit yield, and quality. During the experiment, substrate characteristics, plant morphological traits, and root and leaf C/N content were analyzed at three sampling points defined as early stage (36 days after germination), vegetative stage (84 days a. g.), and fruit stage (140 days a. g.). Fruit morphological traits, titratable acidity, lycopene, and solid soluble content were measured at the end of the experiment. Biochar ameliorated substrate characteristics (N av increase of 17% and C tot increase of 13% at the beginning of the study), resulting in a promotion effect on plant root, shoot, and leaf morphology mainly at the vegetative and fruit stages. Indeed, at these two sampling points, the biochar-treated plants had a greater number of leaves (38 and 68 at the vegetative and fruit stages, respectively) than the untreated plants (32 and 49, respectively). The biochar also increased leaf area with a rise of 26% and 36% compared with the values measured in the untreated plants. Moreover, the amendment increased twofold root length, root surface area, and root, stem, and leaf biomasses in comparison with untreated plants. Regarding plant productivity, although fruit morphology remained unchanged, biochar increased flower and fruit numbers (six times and two times, respectively), acidity (75%), lycopene (28%), and solid soluble content (16%). By unveiling promoting changes in morphological traits, fruit number, and antioxidant content occurring in cherry tomato plants growing in a biochar-treated soilless substrate, it could be possible to highlight the importance of biochar for future applications in the field for enhancing plant production and fruit quality in a sustainable agriculture framework.

Suggested Citation

  • Melissa Simiele & Oriana Argentino & Silvia Baronti & Gabriella Stefania Scippa & Donato Chiatante & Mattia Terzaghi & Antonio Montagnoli, 2022. "Biochar Enhances Plant Growth, Fruit Yield, and Antioxidant Content of Cherry Tomato ( Solanum lycopersicum L.) in a Soilless Substrate," Agriculture, MDPI, vol. 12(8), pages 1-15, July.
  • Handle: RePEc:gam:jagris:v:12:y:2022:i:8:p:1135-:d:877169
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2077-0472/12/8/1135/pdf
    Download Restriction: no

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2077-0472/12/8/1135/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Riccardo Massantini & Emanuele Radicetti & Maria Teresa Frangipane & Enio Campiglia, 2021. "Quality of Tomato ( Solanum lycopersicum L.) Changes under Different Cover Crops, Soil Tillage and Nitrogen Fertilization Management," Agriculture, MDPI, vol. 11(2), pages 1-14, January.
    2. Ratna G. Suthar & Cun Wang & M. Cecilia N. Nunes & Jianjun Chen & Steven A. Sargent & Ray A. Bucklin & Bin Gao, 2018. "Bamboo Biochar Pyrolyzed at Low Temperature Improves Tomato Plant Growth and Fruit Quality," Agriculture, MDPI, vol. 8(10), pages 1-13, October.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Sajjad Nasiri & Babak Andalibi & Afshin Tavakoli & Mohammad Amir Delavar & Ali El-Keblawy & Lukas Van Zwieten & Andrea Mastinu, 2023. "The Mineral Biochar Alters the Biochemical and Microbial Properties of the Soil and the Grain Yield of Hordeum vulgare L. under Drought Stress," Land, MDPI, vol. 12(3), pages 1-15, February.
    2. Fu Zhang & Zijun Chen & Yafei Wang & Ruofei Bao & Xingguang Chen & Sanling Fu & Mimi Tian & Yakun Zhang, 2023. "Research on Flexible End-Effectors with Humanoid Grasp Function for Small Spherical Fruit Picking," Agriculture, MDPI, vol. 13(1), pages 1-18, January.
    3. Zouhair Elkhlifi & Jerosha Iftikhar & Mohammad Sarraf & Baber Ali & Muhammad Hamzah Saleem & Irshad Ibranshahib & Mozart Daltro Bispo & Lucas Meili & Sezai Ercisli & Ehlinaz Torun Kayabasi & Naser Ale, 2023. "Potential Role of Biochar on Capturing Soil Nutrients, Carbon Sequestration and Managing Environmental Challenges: A Review," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(3), pages 1-18, January.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Otilia Cristina Murariu & Creola Brezeanu & Carmenica Doina Jităreanu & Teodor Robu & Liviu Mihai Irimia & Alina Elena Trofin & Lorena-Diana Popa & Vasile Stoleru & Florin Murariu & Petre Marian Breze, 2021. "Functional Quality of Improved Tomato Genotypes Grown in Open Field and in Plastic Tunnel under Organic Farming," Agriculture, MDPI, vol. 11(7), pages 1-15, June.
    2. Saowanee Wijitkosum, 2023. "Repurposing Disposable Bamboo Chopsticks Waste as Biochar for Agronomical Application," Energies, MDPI, vol. 16(2), pages 1-16, January.
    3. Enrico Santangelo & Simone Bergonzoli & Patrizia Papetti & Andrea Mazzucato & Angelo Del Giudice & Antonio Scarfone & Claudio Beni, 2023. "The Profile of Bioactive Compounds in Two Tomato Lines ( hp-2 and Atv_aft ) When Grown under Low-Input Farming Conditions with or without Mulching and Intercropping," Agriculture, MDPI, vol. 13(2), pages 1-15, January.
    4. Agus Haryanto & Wahyu Hidayat & Udin Hasanudin & Dewi Agustina Iryani & Sangdo Kim & Sihyun Lee & Jiho Yoo, 2021. "Valorization of Indonesian Wood Wastes through Pyrolysis: A Review," Energies, MDPI, vol. 14(5), pages 1-25, March.
    5. Sadaf Hashmi & Uzma Younis & Subhan Danish & Tariq Muhammad Munir, 2019. "Pongamia pinnata L. Leaves Biochar Increased Growth and Pigments Syntheses in Pisum sativum L. Exposed to Nutritional Stress," Agriculture, MDPI, vol. 9(7), pages 1-13, July.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jagris:v:12:y:2022:i:8:p:1135-:d:877169. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.