Abstract
Drought is one of the most important abiotic stresses responsible for reduced crop yields. Drought stress induces morphological and physiological changes in plants and severely impacts plant metabolism due to cellular oxidative stress, even in C4 crops, such as sugarcane. Seaweed extract-based biostimulants can mitigate negative plant responses caused by drought stress. However, the effects of foliar application of such biostimulants on sugarcane exposed to drought stress, particularly on plant metabolism, stalk and sugar yields, juice purity, and sugarcane technological quality, have received little attention. Accordingly, this study aimed to evaluate the effects of foliar application of a seaweed extract-based biostimulant on late-harvest sugarcane during the driest period of the year. Three experiments were implemented in commercial sugarcane fields in Brazil in the 2018 (site 1), 2019 (site 2), and 2020 (site 3) harvest seasons. The treatments consisted of the application and no application of seaweed extract (SWE) as a foliar biostimulant in June (sites 2 and 3) or July (site 1). The treatments were applied to the fourth ratoon of sugarcane variety RB855536 at site 1 and the fifth and third ratoons of sugarcane variety SP803290 at sites 2 and 3, respectively. SWE was applied at a dose of 500 ml a.i. ha −1 in a water volume of 100 L ha −1 . SWE mitigated the negative effects of drought stress and increased stalk yield per hectare by up to 3.08 Mg ha −1 . In addition, SWE increased stalk sucrose accumulation, resulting in an increase in sugar yield of 3.4 kg Mg −1 per hectare and higher industrial quality of the raw material. In SWE-treated plants, Trolox-equivalent antioxidant capacity and antioxidant enzyme activity increased, while malondialdehyde (MDA) levels decreased. Leaf analysis showed that SWE application efficiently improved metabolic activity, as evidenced by a decrease in carbohydrate reserve levels in leaves and an increase in total sugars. By positively stabilizing the plant’s cellular redox balance, SWE increased biomass production, resulting in an increase in energy generation. Thus, foliar SWE application can alleviate drought stress while enhancing sugarcane development, stalk yield, sugar production, and plant physiological and enzymatic processes.
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Claims 12
Claim · model-written summary
Seaweed extract increased stalk yield per hectare by up to 3.08 Mg ha −1 under drought.
- Taxon
- sugarcanet0
- Treatment
- SWEe2
- Outcome
- stalk yield per hectaree2
- Direction
- increasede2
- Value
- 3.08 Mg ha −1e2
- Comparator
- no application of seaweed extracte1
- Setting
- commercial sugarcane fields in Brazile0
Not reportedMaterial
Verbatim
t0“Drought Stress in Sugarcane”
e0“commercial sugarcane fields in Brazil”
e1“the application and no application of seaweed extract (SWE)”
e2“SWE mitigated the negative effects of drought stress and increased stalk yield per hectare by up to 3.08 Mg ha −1”
Claim · model-written summary
Seaweed extract mitigated the negative effects of drought stress on sugarcane.
- Taxon
- sugarcanet0
- Treatment
- SWEe2
- Outcome
- negative effects of drought stresse2
- Direction
- mitigatede2
- Comparator
- no application of seaweed extracte1
Not reportedMaterial
Verbatim
t0“Drought Stress in Sugarcane”
e1“the application and no application of seaweed extract (SWE)”
e2“SWE mitigated the negative effects of drought stress and increased stalk yield per hectare by up to 3.08 Mg ha −1”
Claim · model-written summary
Seaweed extract increased stalk sucrose accumulation.
- Taxon
- sugarcanet0
- Treatment
- SWEe3
- Outcome
- stalk sucrose accumulatione3
- Direction
- increasede3
- Comparator
- no application of seaweed extracte1
Not reportedMaterial
Verbatim
t0“Drought Stress in Sugarcane”
e1“the application and no application of seaweed extract (SWE)”
e3“SWE increased stalk sucrose accumulation”
Claim · model-written summary
Seaweed extract increased sugar yield by 3.4 kg Mg −1 per hectare.
- Taxon
- sugarcanet0
- Treatment
- SWEe3
- Outcome
- sugar yielde4
- Direction
- increasee4
- Value
- 3.4 kg Mg −1 per hectaree4
- Comparator
- no application of seaweed extracte1
Not reportedMaterial
Verbatim
t0“Drought Stress in Sugarcane”
e1“the application and no application of seaweed extract (SWE)”
e3“SWE increased stalk sucrose accumulation”
e4“resulting in an increase in sugar yield of 3.4 kg Mg −1 per hectare”
Claim · model-written summary
Seaweed extract increased the industrial quality of the raw material.
- Taxon
- sugarcanet0
- Treatment
- SWEe3
- Outcome
- industrial quality of the raw materiale5
- Direction
- highere5
- Comparator
- no application of seaweed extracte1
Not reportedMaterial
Verbatim
t0“Drought Stress in Sugarcane”
e1“the application and no application of seaweed extract (SWE)”
e3“SWE increased stalk sucrose accumulation”
e5“higher industrial quality of the raw material”
Claim · model-written summary
Seaweed extract increased Trolox-equivalent antioxidant capacity and antioxidant enzyme activity.
- Taxon
- sugarcanet0
- Treatment
- SWEe6
- Outcome
- Trolox-equivalent antioxidant capacity and antioxidant enzyme activitye6
- Direction
- increasede6
- Comparator
- no application of seaweed extracte1
Not reportedMaterial
Verbatim
t0“Drought Stress in Sugarcane”
e1“the application and no application of seaweed extract (SWE)”
e6“In SWE-treated plants, Trolox-equivalent antioxidant capacity and antioxidant enzyme activity increased”
Claim · model-written summary
Seaweed extract decreased malondialdehyde (MDA) levels.
- Taxon
- sugarcanet0
- Treatment
- SWEe6
- Outcome
- malondialdehyde (MDA) levelse7
- Direction
- decreasede7
- Comparator
- no application of seaweed extracte1
Not reportedMaterial
Verbatim
t0“Drought Stress in Sugarcane”
e1“the application and no application of seaweed extract (SWE)”
e6“In SWE-treated plants, Trolox-equivalent antioxidant capacity and antioxidant enzyme activity increased”
e7“malondialdehyde (MDA) levels decreased”
Claim · model-written summary
Seaweed extract application decreased carbohydrate reserve levels in leaves.
- Taxon
- sugarcanet0
- Organ / stage
- leavese7
- Treatment
- SWE applicatione7
- Outcome
- carbohydrate reserve levels in leavese7
- Direction
- decreasee7
- Comparator
- no application of seaweed extracte1
Not reportedMaterial
Verbatim
t0“Drought Stress in Sugarcane”
e1“the application and no application of seaweed extract (SWE)”
e7“Leaf analysis showed that SWE application efficiently improved metabolic activity, as evidenced by a decrease in carbohydrate reserve levels in leaves and an increase in total sugars”
Claim · model-written summary
Seaweed extract application increased total sugars in leaves.
- Taxon
- sugarcanet0
- Organ / stage
- leavese7
- Treatment
- SWE applicatione7
- Outcome
- total sugarse7
- Direction
- increasee7
- Comparator
- no application of seaweed extracte1
Not reportedMaterial
Verbatim
t0“Drought Stress in Sugarcane”
e1“the application and no application of seaweed extract (SWE)”
e7“Leaf analysis showed that SWE application efficiently improved metabolic activity, as evidenced by a decrease in carbohydrate reserve levels in leaves and an increase in total sugars”
Claim · model-written summary
Seaweed extract application improved metabolic activity in sugarcane leaves.
- Taxon
- sugarcanet0
- Organ / stage
- leavese7
- Treatment
- SWE applicatione7
- Outcome
- metabolic activitye7
- Direction
- improvede7
- Comparator
- no application of seaweed extracte1
Not reportedMaterial
Verbatim
t0“Drought Stress in Sugarcane”
e1“the application and no application of seaweed extract (SWE)”
e7“Leaf analysis showed that SWE application efficiently improved metabolic activity, as evidenced by a decrease in carbohydrate reserve levels in leaves and an increase in total sugars”
Claim · model-written summary
Seaweed extract increased biomass production, which the authors attribute to stabilizing the cellular redox balance.
- Taxon
- sugarcanet0
- Treatment
- SWEe6
- Outcome
- biomass productione6
- Direction
- increasede6
- Qualifier
- By positively stabilizing the plant’s cellular redox balancee7
Not reportedMaterial
Verbatim
t0“Drought Stress in Sugarcane”
e1“the application and no application of seaweed extract (SWE)”
e6“SWE increased biomass production, resulting in an increase in energy generation”
e7“By positively stabilizing the plant’s cellular redox balance”
Claim · model-written summary
Seaweed extract increased energy generation in sugarcane.
- Taxon
- sugarcanet0
- Treatment
- SWEe6
- Outcome
- energy generatione6
- Direction
- increasee6
- Comparator
- no application of seaweed extracte1
Not reportedMaterial
Verbatim
t0“Drought Stress in Sugarcane”
e1“the application and no application of seaweed extract (SWE)”
e6“SWE increased biomass production, resulting in an increase in energy generation”
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