%0 Journal Article
	%A E. Tarantino and  G. Disciglio and  L. Frabboni and  A. Libutti and  G. Gatta and  A. Gagliaridi and  A. Tarantino
	%D 2015
	%J International Journal of Agricultural and Biosystems Engineering
	%B World Academy of Science, Engineering and Technology
	%I Open Science Index 103, 2015
	%T Effects of Biostimulant Application on Quali-Quantitative Characteristics of Cauliflower, Pepper and Fennel Crops under Organic and Conventional Fertilization
	%U https://publications.waset.org/pdf/10001687
	%V 103
	%X Nowadays, the main goal for modern horticultural
production is an increase the quality. In recent years, the use of
organic fertilizers or biostimulants that can be applied in agriculture
to improve quali-quantitative crop yields has encountered increasing
interest. Biostimulants are gaining importance also for their possible
use in organic and sustainable agriculture, to avoid excessive
fertilizer applications. Consecutive experimental trials were carried
out in the Apulia region (southern Italy) on three herbaceous crops
(cauliflower, pepper, fennel) grown in pots under conventional and
organic fertilization systems without and with biostimulants. The aim
was to determine the effects of three biostimulants (Siapton®10L,
Micotech L, Lysodin Alga-Fert) on quali-quantitative yield
characteristics. At harvest, the quali-quantitative yield characteristics
of each crop were determined. All of the experimental data were
subjected to analysis of variance (ANOVA), and when significant
effects were detected, the means were compared using Tukey’s tests.
These data show large differences in these yield characteristics
between conventional and organic crops, particularly highlighting
higher yields for the conventional crops, while variable results were
generally observed when the biostimulants were applied. In this
context, there were no effects of the biostimulants on the quantitative
yield, whereas there were low positive effects on the qualitative
characteristics, as related to higher dry matter content of cauliflower,
and higher soluble solids content of pepper. Moreover, there were
evident positive effects of the biostimulants with fennel, due to the
lower nitrate content. These latter data are in line with most of the
published literature obtained for other herbaceous crops.
	%P 734 - 738