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ORIGINAL RESEARCH article

Front. Plant Sci.
Sec. Plant Nutrition
Volume 15 - 2024 | doi: 10.3389/fpls.2024.1465537
This article is part of the Research Topic Application and Mechanism of Plant Biostimulants, Biochar, Fertilizer Products, and Other Nutrition-related Agrochemicals View all 24 articles

Limitations of soil-applied non-microbial and microbial biostimulants in enhancing soil P turnover and recycled P fertilizer utilization -A study with and without plants

Provisionally accepted
Michelle N. Herrmann Michelle N. Herrmann 1*Lydia G. Griffin Lydia G. Griffin 1,2Rebecca John Rebecca John 1Sergio M. Rodríguez Sergio M. Rodríguez 1Peteh M. Nkebiwe Peteh M. Nkebiwe 1,3Xinping Chen Xinping Chen 4,5Huaiyu Yang Huaiyu Yang 4,5Torsten Müller Torsten Müller 1
  • 1 University of Hohenheim, Stuttgart, Germany
  • 2 College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences, University of Georgia, Athens, Georgia, United States
  • 3 Yara International (Germany), Duelmen, Germany
  • 4 College of Resources and Environment, Southwest University, Chongqing, China
  • 5 Southwest University, Interdisciplinary Research Center for Agriculture Green Development in Yangtze River Basin, Chongqing, China

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    Phosphorus recovery from waste streams is a global concern due to open nutrient cycles. However, the reliability and efficiency of recycled P fertilizers are often low. Biostimulants (BS), as a potential enhancer of P availability in soil, could help to overcome current barriers using recycled P fertilizers. For this, a deeper understanding of the influence of BSs on soil P turnover and the interaction of BSs with plants is needed. We conducted an incubation and a pot trial with maize in which we tested nonmicrobial (humic acids and plant extracts) and microbial BSs (microbial consortia) in combination with two recycled fertilizers for their impact on soil P turnover, plant available P, and plant growth. BSs could not stimulate P turnover processes (phosphatase activity, microbial biomass P) and had a minor impact on calcium-acetate-lactate extractable P (CAL-P) in the incubation trial. Even though stimulation of microbial P turnover by the microbial consortium and humic acids in combination with the sewage sludge ash could be identified in the plant trial with maize, this was not reflected in the plant performance and soil P turnover processes. Concerning the recycled P fertilizers, the CAL-P content in soil was not a reliable predictor of plant performance with both products resulting in

    Keywords: biostimulants, biofertilizers, P availability, Phosphorus solubilizing bacteria, Recycled fertilizers, Struvite, sewage sludge ash

    Received: 16 Jul 2024; Accepted: 15 Oct 2024.

    Copyright: © 2024 Herrmann, Griffin, John, Rodríguez, Nkebiwe, Chen, Yang and Müller. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

    * Correspondence: Michelle N. Herrmann, University of Hohenheim, Stuttgart, Germany

    Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.