Potassium Fulvic Acid and Arbuscular Mycorrhizal Fungi Amendments Affect Watermelon Substrate Properties and Seedling Growth
摘要
In this study, vermiculite and perlite were added to improve the porosity of the substrate, and then potassium fulvic acid and AM fungi were introduced to improve the microbial community structure inside the substrate, so as to promote plant growth. Vermicompost amended with both 0.3 g potassium fulvic acid and 2 g AM fungi in each seedling pole. Seedling biomass, endogenous hormones content and physicochemical parameters of vermicompost substrate were determined in this study. The results indicated that both potassium fulvic acid and AM fungi improved seedling biomass (both shoot and root) of watermelon. The addition of potassium fulvic acid and AM fungi enhanced the exchangeable potassium content in the vermicompost by 22–40%. Potassium fulvic acid amendments increased the fungal abundance of vermicompost substrate by 23.2%, while the bacterial abundance of vermicompost substrate was increased by 11.8% in the AM fungi treatment. In the potassium fulvic acid and AM fungi supplementation treatment, indole-3-acetic acid and abscisic acid concentrations in the shoot tissues increased by 21.1% and 87.1% respectively, and shoot carbon and nitrogen uptake was enhanced by 62.2% and 78.8% respectively. These findings indicate that potassium fulvic acid and AM fungi amendments can improve the vermicompost substrate properties, which consequently increased the nutrient uptake and seedling growth.