Affiliations 

  • 1 School of Agriculture Science & Biotechnology, Faculty of Bioresources and Food Industry, Universiti Sultan Zainal Abidin, Besut Campus, 22200 Besut, Terengganu, Malaysia
  • 2 School of Agriculture Science & Biotechnology, Faculty of Bioresources and Food Industry, Universiti Sultan Zainal Abidin, Besut Campus, 22200 Besut, Terengganu, Malaysia. Electronic address: moneruzzaman@unisza.edu.my
  • 3 Department of Crop Science, Faculty of Agriculture, Universiti Putra Malaysia, 43000 Seri Kembangan, Selangor, Malaysia; Biodiversity Unit, Institute of Bioscience, Universiti Putra Malaysia, 43000 Seri Kembangan, Selangor, Malaysia
  • 4 Department of Physics, College of Science, Taif University, P.O.Box 11099, Taif 21944, Saudi Arabia
  • 5 Department of Biological Science, College of Science, Taif University, P.O. Box 11099, Taif 21944, Saudi Arabia
  • 6 School of Food Industry, Faculty of Bioresources and Food Industry, Universiti Sultan Zainal Abidin, Besut Campus, 22200, Besut, Terengganu, Malaysia
  • 7 Plant Production Department, College of Food and Agricultural Sciences, King Saud University, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia
  • 8 Institute of Biological Sciences, Faculty of Science, Universiti Malaya, 50603, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
Plant Physiol Biochem, 2024 Jan;206:108295.
PMID: 38154296 DOI: 10.1016/j.plaphy.2023.108295

Abstract

The present study was conducted to investigate the effects of Trichoderma harzianum and Bacillus thuringiensis alone or with gradual levels of NPK on photosynthesis, growth, fruit quality, aroma improvement and reduced radionuclides of key lime fruits. The lemon seedlings were treated with (T0) without fertilizers as control, (T1) 100g of NPK at 100%, (T2) 5 g of Trichoderma. harzianum at 50% + 50 g of NPK at 50%, (T3) 5 g of Bacillus thuringiensis at 50% + 50 g of NPK at 50 %, (T4) 7.5 g of Trichoderma harzianum at 75% + 25 g of NPK at 25 %, (T5) 7.5 g of Bacillus thuringiensis at 75% + 25 g of NPK at 25 %, (T6) 10 g of Trichoderma harzianum at 100 % and (T7)10 g of Bacillus thuringiensis at 100 %. The results showed that T2 increased net photosynthetic rate, stomatal conductance, transpiration rate, internal CO2 concentration, fresh and dry root biomass by 209%, 74%, 56%, 376%, 69.4% and 71.6%, while, T5 increased root volume, root length, and root tip number by 27.1%, 167%, and 67%, respectively over the control trees. The microbial treatments developed cortex, vascular cylinder and tracheal elements of the root. Fruit number, length, diameter, weight, pulp thickness, pulp/peel ratio, juice, total soluble solids (TSS), pigment contents and antioxidant activity increased significantly in the T2 treatment. Vitamin C, total phenols, total flavonoids, and total sugar content increased by 1.59-, 1.66-, 1.44- and 2.07- fold in T5 treated fruits compared to the control. The two microbes increased volatile compounds and decreased radionucleotides in the fruit, moreover, 27 identified and 2 (two) unmatched volatile compounds were identified by GCMS analysis. It is concluded that T. harzianum and B. thuringiensis with 25-50 g NPK treatments improved photosynthesis, root structure, fruit growth, fruit quality, aroma and lessened radionuclides in key lime fruits.

* Title and MeSH Headings from MEDLINE®/PubMed®, a database of the U.S. National Library of Medicine.