The Exogenous Application of Non-Toxic Sulfur Contributes to the Growth-Promoting Effects of Leaf Lettuce ( Lactuca sativa L. var. crispa )

Jong-Chan Park, Nipin Sp, Hyoung Do Kim, Dong Young Kang, Il Ho Kim, Se Won Bae, Young Yang and Kyoung-Jin Jang
Additional contact information
Jong-Chan Park: Plant Systems Engineering Research Center, Korea Research Institute of Bioscience & Biotechnology (KRIBB), Daejeon 34141, Korea
Nipin Sp: Department of Pathology, School of Medicine, Institute of Biomedical Science and Technology, Konkuk University, Chungju 27478, Korea
Hyoung Do Kim: Department of Pathology, School of Medicine, Institute of Biomedical Science and Technology, Konkuk University, Chungju 27478, Korea
Dong Young Kang: Department of Pathology, School of Medicine, Institute of Biomedical Science and Technology, Konkuk University, Chungju 27478, Korea
Il Ho Kim: Nara Bio Research & Development Center Co., Ltd., Gunsan 54006, Jeollabuk-do, Korea
Se Won Bae: Department of Chemistry and Cosmetics, Jeju National University, Jeju 63243, Korea
Young Yang: Department of Pathology, School of Medicine, Institute of Biomedical Science and Technology, Konkuk University, Chungju 27478, Korea
Kyoung-Jin Jang: Department of Pathology, School of Medicine, Institute of Biomedical Science and Technology, Konkuk University, Chungju 27478, Korea

Agriculture, 2021, vol. 11, issue 8, 1-13

Abstract: Sulfur is an essential nutrient—along with nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium—for plant growth and development. Sulfur is mostly supplied to crops through soil fertilizers. However, chemical fertilizers are overused to increase crop yields despite environmental threats. The proper use of chemical fertilizers positively affects crop growth and yield increase. Regardless, residues from misuse threaten not only the soil ecosystem, but also the marine ecosystem. Therefore, the need to minimize chemical fertilizer abuse is imperative. This article reports that sulfur can be applied to crop leaves as nontoxic sulfur (NTS) in trace amounts to positively affect plant hormones, chloroplast content, and ROS scavenging system, thereby promoting growth, and increasing crop yields. Furthermore, NTS and microelements, the micronutrients calcium and magnesium, produced a synergistic effect when applied together, and NTS enhanced the expression of auxin and gibberellin-related genes. Additionally, chlorophyll content was increased, and ROS scavenging ability was greatly improved. Therefore, NTS can effectively deliver potent growth-promoting functions of plants faster and safer than did soil fertilizers and consequently increase crop yield. This finding is a new strategy to replace soil chemical fertilizers in supplying sulfur. It is potentially valuable for increasing crop yields and can be applied to other crops.

Keywords: nontoxic sulfur; growth promotion; phytohormone; ROS scavenging; crop yield; leaf lettuce (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q1 Q10 Q11 Q12 Q13 Q14 Q15 Q16 Q17 Q18 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/2077-0472/11/8/769/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/2077-0472/11/8/769/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jagris:v:11:y:2021:i:8:p:769-:d:612969

Access Statistics for this article

Agriculture is currently edited by Ms. Leda Xuan

More articles in Agriculture from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().