English (United Kingdom)

https://curated-unify.zendy.io/wp-json/zendy-region/v1/featured_content/oa?rat=en

https://curated-unify.zendy.io/wp-json/zendy-region/v1/highlighted_journal/

Global: Zendy Plus annual

Presents the access of premium content as premium feature

Premium Content

Presents the keyphrase highlighting as premium feature

Keyphrase Highlighting

Presents the summarisation as premium feature

Summarisation

Insights

Presents the pdf analysis as premium feature

PDF Analysis

Presents the zaia usage as premium feature

ZAIA

Global: Zendy Tools annual

Global: Zendy Free Plan

Global: Zendy Tools monthly

Global: Zendy Plus monthly

Strawberry cultivation is associated with high mineral fertilizer doses and extensive use of chemical plant protection products. Based on previous research, we expected that chitin application to peat substrate would increase the nutrient availability and activate the plant systemic defense response, resulting in higher strawberry yields and fewer disease symptoms. We set up two experiments in which the temporal variability and differences in initial nutrient concentrations of the growing media were taken into account. Chitin treatment resulted in the attraction of plant growth–promoting fungi toward the plant root, such as species from genera Mortierella and Umbelopsis. In addition, by the end of the experiments 87 mg of mineral nitrogen (N) per liter of substrate was mineralized, which can be related to the observed increase in plant shoot biomass. This, however, led to nutrient imbalances in plant shoots and fruit; N concentration in the leaves increased over 30%, exceeding the optimal range, while phosphorous (P) and potassium (K) deficiencies occurred, with concentrations lower than 50% of the optimal range. This may explain the decreased fruit yield and disease resistance of the fruit toward Botrytis cinerea. In contrast, chitin caused a clear defense priming effect in the strawberry leaves, with a strong induction of the jasmonic acid response, resulting in fewer foliar disease symptoms. Chitin causes positive effects on shoot growth and foliar disease resistance, but caution needs to be taken for nutrient imbalances leading to negative influences on root growth, fruit production, and disease susceptibility toward B. cinerea.    [Formula: see text] Copyright © 2021 The Author(s). This is an open access article distributed under the CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 International license .

Chitin in Strawberry Cultivation: Foliar Growth and Defense Response Promotion, but Reduced Fruit Yield and Disease Resistance by Nutrient Imbalances