Towards Sustainable Agriculture—Agronomic and Economic Effects of Biostimulant Use in Common Bean Cultivation

Agnieszka Szparaga, Maciej Kuboń, Sławomir Kocira, Ewa Czerwińska, Anna Pawłowska, Patryk Hara, Zbigniew Kobus and Dariusz Kwaśniewski
Additional contact information
Agnieszka Szparaga: Department of Agrobiotechnology, Koszalin University of Technology, Racławicka 15–17, 75-620 Koszalin, Poland
Maciej Kuboń: Institute of Agricultural Engineering and Informatics, Agricultural University Krakow, Balicka 116B, 30-149 Krakow, Poland
Sławomir Kocira: Department of Machinery Exploitation and Management of Production Processes, University of Life Sciences in Lublin, Akademicka 13, 20-950 Lublin, Poland
Ewa Czerwińska: Department of Biomedical Engineering, Koszalin University of Technology, Śniadeckich 2, 75-453 Koszalin, Poland
Anna Pawłowska: Laboratory of Molecular Diagnostic and Biochemistry, Bonin Research Center, Plant Breeding and Acclimatization Institute–National Research Institute, 76-009 Bonin, Poland
Patryk Hara: Department of Agrobiotechnology, Koszalin University of Technology, Racławicka 15–17, 75-620 Koszalin, Poland
Zbigniew Kobus: Department of Technology Fundamentals, University of Life Sciences in Lublin, Akademicka 13, 20-950 Lublin, Poland
Dariusz Kwaśniewski: Institute of Agricultural Engineering and Informatics, Agricultural University Krakow, Balicka 116B, 30-149 Krakow, Poland

Sustainability, 2019, vol. 11, issue 17, 1-21

Abstract: Today, one of the greatest challenges faced by the agriculture industry is the development of sustainable and environmentally-friendly systems to meet nutritional demands of the continuously growing global population. A number of research studies have recently been undertaken with the aim to indicate types of parameters used in plant production that would be able to improve plant growth as well as the effectiveness and quality of yield, and to help plants cope with environmental stress. The aim of this study was to verify a hypothesis that the implementation of a sustainable agricultural technology, based on the use of synthetic biostimulants, will allow not only increasing crop yield and quality but also improving the cost-effectiveness of common bean cultivation. The field experiment was conducted in three growing seasons (2016–2018). In the growing season, the plants were treated with Atonik and Tytanit biostimulants in the form of single or double spraying. We determinated biometric traits, seed yield, seed number, and 1000-seed weight. Further analyses included contents of nutraceutical potential. The economic effect of using biostimulants was also calculated. The results of our experiment allowed verifying a hypothesis that the implementation of a sustainable agricultural technology based on the use of synthetic preparations was an effective method to increase plant productivity and, consequently, economic profits to farmers.

Keywords: yield; profitability crop; bean; growth; nutrients; nutraceutical potential; sustainability (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2019
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (6)

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