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ORIGINAL RESEARCH article

Front. Sustain. Food Syst.
Sec. Agroecology and Ecosystem Services
Volume 8 - 2024 | doi: 10.3389/fsufs.2024.1371043
This article is part of the Research Topic Conservation Agriculture for Sustainable Food Production Systems View all 14 articles

Sustainable Enhancement of Rhizospheric Properties for Brinjal (Solanum Melongena L.) Resilience in Drought-Prone Soils: A Microbial-Biochar Approach

Provisionally accepted
Muhammad Saqlain Zaheer Muhammad Saqlain Zaheer 1*Hafiz Haider Ali Hafiz Haider Ali 2Mehak Iftikhar Mehak Iftikhar 2Muhammad Saleem Kashif Muhammad Saleem Kashif 2Akhtar Hameed Akhtar Hameed 3Nazish Aijaz Nazish Aijaz 4Ali Raza Ali Raza 5Muhammad Waheed Riaz Muhammad Waheed Riaz 6Maimoona Ilyas Maimoona Ilyas 2Awais Riaz Awais Riaz 7Hasan Riaz Hasan Riaz 3Muhammad Waqar Alam Muhammad Waqar Alam 8
  • 1 Khwaja Fareed University of Engineering and Information Technology (KFUEIT), Rahim Yar Khan, Pakistan
  • 2 Government College University, Lahore, Lahore, Punjab, Pakistan
  • 3 Institute of Plant Protection, Faculty of Agriculture & Environmental Science, Muhammad Nawaz Shareef University of Agriculture, Multan, Punjab, Pakistan
  • 4 Hunan University, Changsha, Hunan Province, China
  • 5 University of Sargodha, Sargodha, Punjab, Pakistan
  • 6 Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, Zhejiang Province, China
  • 7 University of Arkansas, Fayetteville, North Carolina, United States
  • 8 University of Okara, Okara, Pakistan

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

    Drought directly imposes a serious threat on plants growth and their productivity. Use of rhizobacteria and biochar in crop production is an effective approach under water stress condition, but there is need to investigate their combine effect in vegetable production. A comparative study was performed in order to evaluate the ability of Zn and Fe doped biochar as well as with the inoculation of Azospirillum brasilense and Bacillus subtilis to improve the growth and physiology of Brinjal (Solanum Melongena L.) plants grown under deficit irrigation (65%) condition. Experiment was consisting with 10 treatments along the different combinations of rhizobacteria, Fe, Zn Biochar under deficient irrigation. The highest chlorophyll content was noticed in the combined application of Fe Biochar and A. brasilense under deficit irrigation (DI). The relative water contents was highest in the co-application (>70%) rather than in the single application. Soil organic carbon (SOC) increased by 23 % from 18 % in combined application of FeBc (Iron Biochar) and A. brasilense, and in FeBc alone under DI respectively and by 59 % increased when only FeBc used and compared with DI treatment. Altogether, it was found that application of A. brasilense, B. subtilus, Fe Biochar and Zn Biochar showed maximum efficiency in combating drought stress in soil and help the growth of Solanum Melongena L., plant and proved to be eco-friendly and cost effective soil conditioner in developing countries to limit the negative effects of drought.

    Keywords: Water stress, rhizobacteria, biochar, Brinjal, soil properties Font: Italic, Font color: Black Font: Italic, Font color: Black

    Received: 15 Jan 2024; Accepted: 26 Jun 2024.

    Copyright: © 2024 Zaheer, Ali, Iftikhar, Kashif, Hameed, Aijaz, Raza, Riaz, Ilyas, Riaz, Riaz and Alam. 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: Muhammad Saqlain Zaheer, Khwaja Fareed University of Engineering and Information Technology (KFUEIT), Rahim Yar Khan, Pakistan

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