2019 ASHS Annual Conference

Biostimulants, broadly defined, are a diverse range of materials which when applied to plants, seeds, and growing substrates in small quantities, have the capacity to enhance physiological processes in plants that provides potential benefits to growth, development, or stress response. As such, biostimulants have enormous potential to enhance the sustainability of crop production systems. Previous research has shown that the use of substances and microorganisms classified as biostimulants and when applied as seed treatments were able to increase the quality and nutrient efficiency of diverse crops. In this study, micronized vermicompost (MVC), a nutrient rich medium, and soy flour (SF), a plant-derived protein were applied in various combinations as a dry coating blend. Treated broccoli (Brassica oleracea L.) seeds were placed in a controlled environment germinator at 20/30° C with a dark/light cycle of 16/8 hours, respectively. Total germination, germination rate and uniformity, seedling fresh and dry weight, total shoot and root length were recorded. In addition, seedling vigor index (SVI) was calculated for each treatment. Percent total germination, germination rate and uniformity for the seed treatments were not significantly different than the non-treated seeds. All seed treatments enhanced plant growth compared to the non-treated controls. Additionally, higher shoot and root length were observed in seed treatments of MVC and SF combined compared to applications of SF treatment alone. Seedling vigor indexmeasured from the MVC and SF blended seed treatment was also significantly higher compared to all other treatments. Greenhouse data also supported laboratory data that the MVC + SF seed coating enhanced plant growth. Collectively, these data show that seed coating can serve as a delivery system for application of biostimulants to enhance plant growth. Keywords: Soy flour, Vermicompost,Seed treatment, Sustainable agriculture