Nutrition and yield of hydroponic arugula under inoculation of beneficial microorganisms

Abstract

The use of beneficial fungi and bacteria can improve growth, yield and food quality of plants. The electrical conductivity (EC) of a nutrient solution is closely linked to better nutrition of arugula plants in a hydroponic system. Therefore, objectives of current study were to evaluate isolated and combined effect of inoculation with Azospirillum brasilense and Trichoderma hazianum under two ECs on root-shoot biomass, nutrition and yield of arugula in hydroponic cultivation system. The experiment was designed in a strip-plot block with five replications in a 4 × 2 factorial scheme. The treatments were consisted of four microbial inoculations (without, A. brasilense, T. harzianum and co-inoculation of both) and two ECs (1.4 and 1.6 dS m−1). The higher EC with A. brasilense inoculation provided greater growth of arugula plants in a hydroponic system. Inoculation with A. brasilense has increased leaf area, shoot–root length, leaf chlorophyll index (LCI) and shoot ammonium accumulation while reduced root-shoot nitrate accumulation. The leaf nutrition or biofortification of arugula plants with K, S, Ca, Mg, Zn, Fe, and Mn was improved under both isolated and combined inoculations of A. brasilense and T. harzianum.