Divergent consequences of bio-resources on morphological plasticity and biochemical responses in early-stage leguminous species: Sustainable productivity approaches

Abstract

Inorganic resources can be detrimental to the environment when exploited. In comparison, organic resources help balance the soil's carbon and nitrogen (C/N) ratio, enhance soil fertility and benefit ecological protection. Current climate crises, rapid urbanization, and fast population growth are causing many natural forests to be converted to agricultural and industrial lands to fulfill ever-increasing food and developmental requirements. Application of different bio-resources becomes necessary for sustainable productivity of available lands. This study explores the effects of various organic amendments on the growth, morpho-physiological and biochemical attributes of three leguminous tree species: Dalbergia sissoo, Vachellia nilotica, and Acacia ampliceps, concerning sustainable productivity. One-year-old healthy, disease-free, and homogenous seedlings were used as study material in a greenhouse pot experiment. Four organic amendments, i.e., compost (CMP), cow dung (CD), poultry manure (PM), and biochar (BC), along with a control (CK) treatment, were applied. Results showed that all the organic amendments performed significantly better (P < 0.05) than CK. CD produced the most significant results, followed by BC application, while PM influence was the least. Among all treatments and species, the maximum values of root length, root biomass, chlorophyll content, carotenoids, catalase, and total phenolic content were recorded under the CD treatment. Whereas for plant height and collar diameter, no big differences were observed between CD and BC (P = 0.054). While comparing species, V. nilotica growth was significantly enhanced under organic amendments, followed by A. ampliceps. Combined and comparative results of studied parameters conclude that CD and BC were the most effective organic amendments, which greatly improved the growth of experimental leguminous tree species; this makes these two biofertilizers a powerful tool for sustainable agricultural productivity. Our study contributes toward an enhanced understanding of plant's morpho-physiological responses, biochemical growth patterns, controls, and activities under different bio-fertilizers.

Keywords

Bio-fertilizers / Crop productivity / Ecological sustainability / Nitrogen fixation / Organic cultivation / Physiological responses

CRediT authorship contribution statement

Taimoor Hassan Farooq: Conceptualization, Methodology, Data curation, Formal analysis, Writing – original draft, Writing – review & editing, Project administration, Software, Supervision, Resources, Funding acquisition, Validation. Muhammad Farrakh Nawaz: Conceptualization, Methodology, Data curation, Formal analysis, Writing – original draft, Writing – review & editing, Project administration, Software, Supervision, Resources, Funding acquisition, Validation. Muhammad Qasid: Conceptualization, Methodology, Data curation, Formal analysis, Writing – original draft, Writing – review & editing, Project administration, Software, Supervision, Resources, Funding acquisition, Validation. Awais Shakoor: Conceptualization, Methodology, Data curation, Formal analysis, Writing – original draft, Writing – review & editing, Project administration, Software, Supervision, Resources, Funding acquisition, Validation. Irfan Ahmad: Conceptualization, Methodology, Data curation, Formal analysis, Writing – original draft, Writing – review & editing, Project administration, Software, Supervision, Resources, Funding acquisition, Validation. Sadaf Gul: Conceptualization, Methodology, Data curation, Formal analysis, Writing – original draft, Writing – review & editing, Project administration, Software, Supervision, Resources, Funding acquisition, Validation. Khuram Shahzad: Conceptualization, Methodology, Data curation, Formal analysis, Writing – original draft, Writing – review & editing, Project administration, Software, Supervision, Resources, Funding acquisition, Validation. Xiaoyong Chen: Conceptualization, Methodology, Data curation, Formal analysis, Writing – original draft, Writing – review & editing, Project administration, Software, Supervision, Resources, Funding acquisition, Validation.

Declaration of Competing Interest

The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper.

Acknowledgement

This research was financially supported by funding from the Central South University of Forestry and Technology and the Hunan Province Educational Department Funding (No.70702-45200003).

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