| Autor: |
Alfonzetti M; School of Natural Sciences, Macquarie University, Sydney, NSW 2109, Australia., Doleac S; School of Natural Sciences, Macquarie University, Sydney, NSW 2109, Australia., Mills CH; AirSeed Technologies Australia Pty Ltd., Sydney, NSW 2000, Australia., Gallagher RV; Hawkesbury Institute for the Environment, Western Sydney University, Locked Bag 1797, Penrith, NSW 2751, Australia., Tetu S; School of Natural Sciences, Macquarie University, Sydney, NSW 2109, Australia.; Biomolecular Discovery Research Centre, Macquarie University, Sydney, NSW 2109, Australia.; ARC Centre of Excellence in Synthetic Biology, Macquarie University, Sydney, NSW 2109, Australia. |
| Abstrakt: |
Soil microbes play important roles in plant health and ecosystem functioning, however, they can often be disturbed or depleted in degraded lands. During seed-based revegetation of such sites there is often very low germination and seedling establishment success, with recruitment of beneficial microbes to the rhizosphere one potential contributor to this problem. Here we investigated whether Australian native plant species may benefit from planting seed encapsulated within extruded seed pellets amended with one of two microbe-rich products: a commercial vermicast extract biostimulant or a whole-soil inoculum from a healthy reference site of native vegetation. Two manipulative glasshouse trials assessing the performance of two Australian native plant species ( Acacia parramattensis and Indigofera australis ) were carried out in both unmodified field-collected soil (trial 1) and in the same soil reduced in nutrients and microbes (trial 2). Seedling emergence and growth were compared between pelleted and bare-seeded controls and analyzed alongside soil nutrient concentrations and culturable microbial community assessments. The addition of microbial amendments maintained, but did not improve upon, high levels of emergence in both plant species relative to unamended pellets. In trial 1, mean time to emergence of Acacia parramattensis seedlings was slightly shorter in both amended pellet types relative to the standard pellets, and in trial 2, whole-soil inoculum pellets showed significantly improved growth metrics. This work shows that there is potential for microbial amendments to positively affect native plant emergence and growth, however exact effects are dependent on the type of amendment, the plant species, and the characteristics of the planting site soil. |
