Celery (Apium graveolens L.) Performances as Subjected to Different Sources of Protein Hydrolysates

Abstract

The vegetable production sector is currently fronting several issues mainly connected to the increasing demand of high quality food produced in accordance with sustainable horticultural technologies. The application of biostimulants, particularly protein hydrolysates (PHs), might be favorable to optimize water and mineral uptake and plant utilization and to increase both production performance and quality feature of vegetable crops. The present study was carried out on celery plants grown in a tunnel to appraise the influence of two PHs, a plant-derived PH (P-PH), obtained from soy extract and an animal PH (A-PH), derived from hydrolyzed animal epithelium (waste from bovine tanneries) on yield, yield components (head height, root collar diameter, and number of stalks), mineral composition, nutritional and functional features, as well as the economic profitability of PHs applications. Fresh weight in A-PH and P-PH treated plants was 8.3% and 38.2% higher, respectively than in untreated control plants. However, no significant difference was found between A-PH treated plants and control plants in terms of fresh weight. Head height significantly increased by 5.5% and 16.3% in A-PH and P-PH treated plants, respectively compared with untreated control (p ≤ 0.05). N content was inferior in PHs treated plants than in untreated control. Conversely, K and Mg content was higher in A-PH and P-PH treated plants as compared to the untreated ones. Furthermore, A-PH and P-PH improved ascorbic acid content by 8.2% and 8.7%, respectively compared with the non-treated control (p ≤ 0.001). Our results confirmed, also, that PHs application is an eco-friendly technique to improve total phenolic content in celery plants. In support of this, our findings revealed that animal or plants PH applications increased total phenolics by 36.9% and 20.8%, respectively compared with untreated plants (p ≤ 0.001).

Impact of Ecklonia maxima Seaweed Extract and Mo Foliar Treatments on Biofortification, Spinach Yield, Quality and NUE

“…One of the most pioneeristic agronomic practices to meet these challenges is the use of plant biostimulants which can elicit growth and development, productivity, abiotic stress tolerance and quality of plants [3,4]. Several authors [5][6][7][8][9][10][11][12] have reported that biostimulants can promote primary and secondary metabolism in vegetables, modulating micro-and macronutrient uptake and assimilation, buildup of phytochemicals and tolerance to abiotic distresses. Among plant biostimulants, seaweed extracts (SEs), especially the brown macro-algae, are often used for their content in signaling molecules such as polysaccharides, betaines, macroand micronutrients and phytohormones which enhance plant performance [13,14].…”

Petunia Performance Under Application of Animal-Based Protein Hydrolysates: Effects on Visual Quality, Biomass, Nutrient Content, Root Morphology, and Gas Exchange

“…Vegetables, such as tomato ( Polo and Mata, 2018 ; Sestili et al, 2018 ; Casadesús et al, 2019 ), rocket ( Caruso et al, 2019 ), celery ( Consentino et al, 2020 ), lettuce ( Polo et al, 2006 ; Xu and Mou, 2017 ), basil ( Rouphael et al, 2021 ), and spinach ( Kunicki et al, 2010 ), and tree crops, such as kiwifruit ( Quartieri et al, 2002 ), papaya ( Morales-Pajan and Stall, 2003 ), and passion fruit ( Morales-Pajan and Stall, 2004 ), have been tested with animal-based PHs, with the aim of improving plant performance and abiotic stress resistance. Less attention to the use of animal-based PH biostimulants has been paid for ornamental species, especially bedding plants.…”

Biostimulants Application: A Low Input Cropping Management Tool for Sustainable Farming of Vegetables

“…Another category of biostimulants widely used in horticulture is protein hydrolysates and nitrogen-containing compounds. There are several commercial products available derived from plant or animal proteins with various applications in horticultural crops during the last few years [128][129][130]. For example, one of the first studies was conducted on common bean with protein hydrolysates derived from tomato plant residues and reported a significant increase in nitrogen assimilation of bean [131].…”