1. Combining silicon, organic matter, and Trichoderma harzianum to mitigate salt stress in forage sorghum
- Author
-
José Orlando Nunes da Silva, Luiz Filipe dos Santos Silva, Edson Moreira de Abrantes, Leonardo Raimundo da Silva, Eurico Lustosa do Nascimento Alencar, Eduardo Soares de Souza, Sérgio Luiz Ferreira da Silva, and Luiz Guilherme Medeiros Pessoa
- Subjects
Sorghum sudanense ,salinity ,fungus ,semiarid. ,Agriculture (General) ,S1-972 - Abstract
Salt stress is a major abiotic factor limiting plant growth worldwide, particularly in arid and semiarid regions where excessive groundwater use in irrigation leads to high salt concentrations. To address this issue, this study investigated the efficacy of silicon, either alone or in combination with Trichoderma harzianum and organic matter, in mitigating salt stress in forage sorghum. The experiment took place in a saline Fluvisol in Parnamirim, a semiarid region of Pernambuco, Brazil, and followed a randomized block design with five treatments and four replicates: sorghum (control); sorghum + Si; sorghum + Si + OM (organic matter); sorghum + Si + T (T. harzianum); and sorghum + Si + T + OM. Sorghum plants were assessed over three cycles (initial cut and two regrowths) from June 2021 to April 2022. The combined treatments of Si + OM, Si + T, and Si + T + OM increased plant growth by 42.17, 35.49, and 27.51%, respectively, compared to the control. Similarly, these treatments led to biomass accumulation gains of 39.42, 40.44, and 31.77% in sorghum plants relative to the control. Silicon alone did not yield significant growth or biomass accumulation improvements. The application of silicon in conjunction with T. harzianum and/or organic matter shows promise in enhancing forage sorghum growth under saline stress conditions in semiarid regions.
- Published
- 2024
- Full Text
- View/download PDF