Work

Effects of Chlorella extracts on growth of Capsicum annuum L. seedlings

Year: 2022

Type: article

Abstract: The long-term application of chemical fertilizers has caused to the farmland soil compaction, water pollution, and reduced the quality of vegetable to some extent. So, its become a trend in agriculture to find new bio-fertilizers.Chlorellaextract is rich in amino acids, peptides, nucleic acids, growth hormones, potassium, calcium, magnesium, iron, zinc ions, vitamin E, B1, B2, C, B6, folic acid, free biotin and chlorophyll.Chlorellaextract can promote biological growth, mainly by stimulating the speed of cell division, thereby accelerating the proliferation rate of cells and playing a role in promoting plant growth. WhetherChlorellaextract can be used to improve the growth of pepper (Capsicum annuum), needs to be verified. In current study, a pepper variety 'Chao Tian Jiao' was used as experiment material, by determining the changes of the related characteristics after spraying the seedlings withChlorellaextract, and its effect on growth ofCapsicum annuumplants was investigated. The results showed that theChlorellaextract significantly increased plant height of pepper seedlings (treatment: 32.2 ± 0.3 cm; control: 24.2 ± 0.2 cm), stem diameter (treatment: 0.57 ± 0.02 cm; control: 0.41 ± 0.03 cm) and leaf area (treatment: 189.6 ± 3.2 cm2; control: 145.8 ± 2.5 cm2). Particularly, the pepper seedlings treated withChlorellaextract, developed the root system in better way, significantly increased the chlorophylla, and the activities of SOD, POD and CAT enzymes were also improved significantly. Based on our results, we can speculate that it is possible to improve the growth ofCapsicum annuumseedlings and reduce the application of chemical fertilizers in pepper production by usingChlorellaextract.

Source: Scientific Reports

DOI: 10.1038/s41598-022-19846-6