Effect of biochar and inoculation with Trichoderma aureoviride on melon growth and sandy Entisol quality

Abstract

The melon belongs to the family of commercially important cucurbitaceous in the world. However, the production of this crop can be very problematic in some places due to management practices and the climatic instability. Amongst the different options available to overcome these obstacles, the use of biochar often promoted for providing multiple benefits to crops, could contribute in holding more water and nutrients in soil and therefore improve the plant growth. A second way to try to improve the plant development was to use Trichoderma (TRI) known as aiding in seed germination, and being an excellent biological control agent against plant pathogenic pests. So, the objective of this study was to evaluate the benefits of the association of biochar and TRI on the initial growth of melon and the effects on the quality of a sandy Entisol. We quantified the effects of these associations through biometric growth in melon plants and chemical, microbial, and enzymatic activities of the biogeochemical cycles in the soil. An experiment in a completely of randomized design was performed in a factorial scheme (3 x 2 + 1) with three sources of biochar (bean husk (BH), coffee ground (CG), and coffee husk (CH)) inoculated with (T+) or without (T-) TRI and additional controls When the coffee grounds (CG) and bean husks (BH) biochar with T+ soil was inoculated, the fresh weight (number of leaves), dry weight, length (of roots and branch), soil acid and alkaline phosphatase, total organic carbon, phosphorus, magnesium, potassium, and pH were all increased. Moreover, T. aureoviride inoculated CG biochar compared to the control increased the shoot length and dry biomass of the melon plant in 30 and 22% between 22 and 30 %. The soil that received coffee husks (CH) biochar and T+ showed higher microbial biomass carbon. However, the melon plants responded more to the type of biochar than to the T. aureoviride inoculation, possibly due to the short growth time of melon. Results of BH biochar inoculated with T. aureviride in sandy soil showed improved efficiency on melon growth and increased soil quality.

A meta-analysis of biochar application to manage plant diseases caused by bacterial pathogens

“…In this sense, the soil changes observed and discussed in the present study, whether abiotic or biotic, after applying biochars, envision their potential use as a biofertilizer in the form of an inoculant (De Medeiros et al 2020;França et al 2022). For instance, the management with biochar + Trichoderma species, highlighted by Medeiros et al (2021b), favors the formation of organo-mineral complexes, stimulating edaphic microbial activity (including the increase in microbial communities) and acknowledging this eco-sustainable input as a promising inoculation vehicle, even though the discussion about its viability is still at early stages.…”

“…Thus, biochar efficiency in managing bacterial diseases refers to its ability to change the soil biota and increase the number of beneficial microorganisms that directly protect plants against the invasion of soil pathogens, such as fungi of the Trichoderma genus (De Medeiros et al 2020), via the production of antibiotics or competition with potentially harmful microorganisms (Elad et al 2010;Akanmu et al 2020).…”

Biochar and Trichoderma spp. in management of plant diseases caused by soilborne fungal pathogens: a review and perspective

“…Ajeng et al (2020) showed that biochar act to the retention of nutrients to avoid being mathabolized by other phytophatogenic microrganisms or to leaching. This imputs plays an important role in the selective promotion of functional microorganism to dominate the soil microbial community (Liu et al, 2020), promoted root colonization by native arbuscular mycorrhiza and enriches the microbial network (Ajeng et al 2020), as T. aureoviride (Medeiros et al, 2020b).…”

Efeito da aplicação de biochar sobre o carbono da biomassa microbiana em solo cultivado com melão / Effect of the application of biochar on microbial biomass carbon in soil cultivated with melon

“…A adição do biocarvão em solos atua na estrutura microbiana, é uma fonte de energia (carbono) e nutrientes (LIMA et al, 2018) que aumentam a abundância e as atividades microbianas através da disponibilidade de carbono (C) lábil (LIU et al, 2020). São recentes e crescentes os estudos acerca deste material, por isso ainda são escassos os conhecimentos a respeito dos seus mecanismos de ação e efeitos sobre a microbiota do solo (ELZOBAIR, et al, 2016;DE MEDEIROS et al, 2020;MEDEIROS et al, 2020) Por outro lado, o biochar tem sido testado como um veículo de inoculação de microorganismos benéficos ao solo e à planta, como é o caso de fungos do gênero Trichoderma (MEDEIROS et al, 2020). Os fungos que compõem esse gênero são amplamente estudados e apresentam diversas aplicações na indústria, meio ambiente e principalmente na agricultura, sendo conhecidos pelos diversos benefícios que oferecem as plantas (CHEN et al, 2020).…”