TY  - EJOU
AU  - Kang, Sang-Mo 
AU  - Shaffique, Shifa 
AU  - Imran, Muhammad 
AU  - Jeon, Su-Mi 
AU  - Wani, Shabir Hussain 
AU  - Khan, Muhammad Aaqil 
AU  - Odongkara, Peter 
AU  - Kwon, Eun-Hae 
AU  - Kang, Yosep 
AU  - Son, Joon-Ik 
AU  - Kim, Won-Chan 
AU  - Lee, In-Jung 

TI  - Inoculation of <i>Chlorella</i> and Food Waste Improves the Physio-Morphological Features of Red Pepper by Regulating Activating Antioxidant Defense System
T2  - Phyton-International Journal of Experimental Botany

PY  - 2023
VL  - 92
IS  - 9
SN  - 1851-5657

AB  - Food waste is recognized as a valuable source for potential agricultural applications to supply organic matter and nutrients to arable soil. However, the information on the combined application of food waste and the plant growth-promoting bacterial strain, <i>Chlorella</i>, related to plant metabolic features and sodium chloride content in arable soil is limited. The present study was conducted to investigate the exogenous application of food waste along with <i>Chlorella</i>, which improved the physio-morphological features of red pepper. Our results revealed that this combination enhanced the organic matter in the soil, ultimately improving the fertility rate of the soil, and the physio-morphological features, such as chlorophyll <i>a</i> content (24.5 ± 0.7), root (7.8 ± 0.7) cm and shoot length (12.1 ± 0.7) cm, fresh weight (2.1 ± 0.05) g, dry weight (0.19 ± 0.05) g, mineral contents, and hormonal concentration (ABA by up to 2 folds). The combined treatment also minimized free radicals via the activation of the intrinsic antioxidant series cascade and electrolyte leakage. Our findings showed that adding <i>Chlorella</i> and food wastes improved growth characteristics and can be used as a green bio-fertilizer for sustainable agriculture.
KW  - Food waste; <i>Chlorella</i>; hormone; antioxidant

DO  - 10.32604/phyton.2023.028224