Proper irrigation amount for eggplant cultivation in a solar greenhouse improved plant growth, fruit quality and yield by influencing the soil microbial community and rhizosphere environment

Abstract

Water scarcity is a worldwide problem, and in order to obtain plenty of production, agricultural irrigation water accounts for a large portion. Many studies have shown that the interaction of root microorganisms and soil can promote crop growth. Developing ways to reduce irrigation to maintain soil fertility and ensure crop yield by regulating the root microenvironment is an important research goal. Here, we developed a reasonable irrigation plan for eggplant cultivation in a solar greenhouse. The maximum theoretical amount of water demand during eggplant planting obtained from a previous study was used as the control (CK), and the irrigation in the treatments was reduced by 10, 20 and 30% relative to this amount. The 10% irrigation reduction treatment (T1) significantly improved soil nutrients and increased soil catalase, urease and alkaline phosphatase activities (p < 0.05). Further analysis of rhizosphere microorganisms revealed the highest richness and diversity of the microbial community under the T1 treatment, with Bacilli as the most abundant bacteria and Aspergillaceae as the most abundant fungi and lower relative abundances of Chloroflexi and Acidobacteria (p < 0.05). Changes in microbial community structure under the influence of different irrigation treatments resulted in improvements in rhizosphere N cycling and nutrient catabolism. The plant–microbe interactions led to significant increases in eggplant plant height, root vigour, root surface area, leaf chlorophyll a, leaf net photosynthetic rate, water use efficiency, transpiration rate, and stomatal conductance under the T1 treatment compared to the CK treatment; soluble sugar, soluble protein and free amino acid contents in eggplant fruit increased by 10.8, 12.3 and 6.7%, respectively; and yield increased by 3.9%. Our research proved that the 10% irrigation reduction treatment (T1) could improve microbial community richness and fruit yield, which would improve irrigation efficiency and cost reduction in agriculture.

Higher-Quality Pumpkin Cultivars Need to Recruit More Abundant Soil Microbes in Rhizospheres

“…Moreover, our study also found that the relative abundance of Streptomyces was positively correlated with the total soluble solids, starch, vitamin C, and total protein contents of pumpkin. Our result is consistent with a previous report by Ji et al [58].…”

Exploitation of a Grafting Technique for Improving the Water Use Efficiency of Eggplant (Solanum melongena L.) Grown in a Cold Greenhouse in Mediterranean Climatic Conditions

“…Different irrigation volumes were applied in different phenological stages according to the Biologische Bundesanstalt, Bundessortenamt und Chemische Industrie (BBCH) scale index. The definition of the optimal requirement of water per plant was estimated according to previous works [33,34]. Particularly, the irrigation volume employed for the control IR100 was calculated following the model of "FAO irrigation and drainage paper number 56" proposed by Allen et al [35].…”

Enhancing Rabi Brinjal Productivity and Profitability Through Drip Irrigation and Fertigation

“…Seema et al (2022);Ji et al (2022) Betageri and Kottiswaran (2019). reported higher yields of 83.3 t ha -1 under 80% ET 0 level and 100% RDF in addition saving 16.17% of water with mulch compared to without mulch condition in sandy clay loam soils of Coimbatore.…”