Eco-friendly way to increase quality of crops

An environmentally friendly way was found to get an increase in yield even without the use of chemicals

Increasing population requires increasing food productivity especially rice since it of staple food for a lot of people in the world. Rice cultivation in tropical areas requires a significant amount of fertilizers and application of advanced agricultural technics. Mineral fertilizers contaminate waters, they are costly but organic ones are not enough.

An alternative or a supplemental tool can be using of humic substances (HS): natural materials, which have been formed from degraded biomass. HS affect plant growth, enhance nutrient uptake, raise the decomposition of pesticide or toxic compounds, and play a role in transformation, binding and transport of toxic chemicals in soil and water.

The effects of humic product Lignohumate AM® (LH) on plant growth, yield, and grain quality were evaluated in a field experiment using traditional wet rice cultivation in Bali, Indonesia. The experimental design included insecticidal sprays with insecticide 100, 50, and 0% of recommended application rates, either alone or in combination with LH.

At early stages of plant vegetation LH promoted root growth of seedlings, and at 2 weeks after sowing the average root length of LH-treatments was longer than without it (13.1 and 12.3 cm respectively), while seedling height was lower (19.4 and 20.4 cm). The LH treatment reveal fatter but shorter seedling, so they looked more vigorous, more robust, and its stems was thicker than without LH application.

Seedling of 10 days aſter sowing LHT (right) and without it (leſt). Seedlings with LHT looked more vigour.

The best effect of LH on chlorophyll concentration (increase in chlorophyll content was 5-12%) was in combination with 50% of recommended insecticide dose. The high chlorophyll concentration increases photosynthesis activities of leaves and the product fulfil seed fully therefore seed set pithier hence contribute to better seed quality. Also, with a combination of a 50% dose of the insecticide and the use of LH, an increase in the weight of 1000 seeds was observed in comparison with a 100% dose of the insecticide – 35.5 and 25.5 g, respectively. This is huge benefit of applying organic product in agriculture that subsequently supports organic farming system.

Full text:

Suada, K., Rai, N., Budiasa, W., Santosa, G. N., Sunarta, N., Adnyana, G. M., Shchegolkova, N., Poloskin, R., Gladkov, O., Yakimenko O. Effect of Lignohumate on Yield and Quality of Rice in a Paddy Field in Bali, Indonesia // Water: Chemistry and Ecology. — 2017. — no. 5. — P. 3–11.