Humic-like bioactivity on emergence and early growth of maize (Zea mays L.) of water-soluble lignins isolated from biomass for energy

Transcriptome Analyses and Antioxidant Activity Profiling Reveal the Role of a Lignin-Derived Biostimulant Seed Treatment in Enhancing Heat Stress Tolerance in Soybean

“…Wei and co-workers observed that seven-day-old soybean seedlings grown from melatonin-treated seeds and subjected to drought stress showed an enhanced tolerance as compared with untreated seeds [ 34 ]. In accordance with our results, treatment of maize seeds with solutions of increasing concentrations of lignin carbon showed no influence on seed germination rate, but a positive biological activity on the emergence of maize plantlets [ 35 ]. Moreover, Amirkhani and co-workers showed that broccoli seeds coated with plant protein lysates enhanced seedling shoot and root growth as compared with uncoated seeds, whereas their germination was negatively affected by the treatment [ 36 ].…”

Quantitative Structure-Activity Relationship of Humic-Like Biostimulants Derived From Agro-Industrial Byproducts and Energy Crops

“…Moreover, it was also found that a phenolic mixture from grape (Vitis vinifera L.) had a stimulating effect of on the activity of α-amylase, β-amylase, catalase and protease, which are enzymes known to be involved in the germination process (Tudose, 2002). Some of the listed phenolic compounds had been identified in our HLS, and might be responsible for their biological activity (Savy and Piccolo, 2014;Savy et al, 2015aSavy et al, , 2016aSavy et al, , 2017b.…”

“…Prior to run the PLS regression, the biological data were normalized with respect to the control mean for each specific experiment, which was set to 100. Furthermore, the models were built by selecting the treatment means that in most cases provided the longest value for the length of primary root, lateral seminal roots, total root system or coleoptile (Savy et al, 2015a(Savy et al, , 2016a(Savy et al, , 2017b. The dataset consisted of a matrix (8 × 20) with the HLS in columns and spectral data or biological parameters in rows.…”

“…For example, the positive bioactivity of HLS isolated by modifying the lignin contained in several agricultural residues or biorefinery wastes have been ascertained on maize (Zea mays L.) germination and early growth (Savy et al, 2015a(Savy et al, , 2016a(Savy et al, , 2017b. Although such HLS materials were not found to significantly promote seed germination percentage, a positive dose-dependent elongation of primary and lateral seminal roots, as well as of coleoptile, was recorded.…”

“…In this work, we derived a QSAR for HLS extracted from lignin-rich agricultural and biorefinery residues, by applying PLS regression to a dataset retrieved from previously published articles, in which both the chemical structure and the biological activity of such plant enhancers were reported (Savy and Piccolo, 2014;Savy et al, 2015aSavy et al, , 2016aSavy et al, , 2017b. In particular, HLS were chemically characterized by both solid-state 13 C-CPMAS and liquid-state 31 P NMR spectroscopy, whereas the HLS bioactivity was evaluated toward maize germination and early growth.…”