BRESOV D5.3 Recommendation for alternative crop fertilization and use of mycorrhiza under water stress conditions

Summary

The objectives of this task were to provide farmers with recommendations on the use of alternative fertilisers and microorganisms. The trials were carried under on-farm production conditions as well as controlled conditions, in normal water conditions and situation under drought stress.
Our trials did not show significant differences between treatments, in situation of equal total NPK (and different fertilizers) with or without the addition of microorganisms. Working with living material, such as compost, and soils, introduced a great variability especially in terms of microbial composition and organic matter content. The topic showed to be complex and requires extensive trials over several years. To investigate further, we made a bibliographic review on the factors influencing plant-microbe interaction, which was subsequently published.
Further conclusions indicated that well-structured soils, rich in organic mater were less influenced by the introduction of alternative fertilisers and microorganisms. On the contrary, additional trials performed using poorer, less structure soils confirmed a positive effect from microorganisms, and an interaction between microorganisms, betaines and snap bean genotypes, confirming new opportunities to study the interaction between organic matter, microorganisms and plants.
Additionally, we developed a survey on farmers’ awareness, use and experience with alternative solutions. The majority of respondents were farmers, with a majority working in organic farming. The questions of the survey were technical and related to what they effectively did on their farms. It showed that most respondents have a good understanding of the technical aspects, use alternative fertilisers as well as microorganisms and in general recommend their use.