Biostimulants of Different Origins Increase Mineral Content and Yield of Wild Rocket While Reducing Nitrate Content through Successive Harvests

Abstract

Nowadays, biostimulant application is a sustainable practice with which to reduce inputs while maintaining crop yield and quality. Furthermore, the successive harvesting technique is also adopted to increase overall yield and reduce production costs in leafy vegetables. Therefore, a greenhouse experiment was performed to compare four different biostimulants, (i) two from enzymatic hydrolysate of Fabaceae species, (ii) one made from betaine, alginic acid and caidrin, (iii) and another one made from alfalfa extract, algae and molasses rich in low-molecular-weight amino acids, in order to verify their ability to limit nitrate accumulation in wild rocket leaves while boosting yield and quantitative and qualitative components through successive harvests. Successive harvests increased the marketable yield of wild rocket by 41% on average compared to the first harvest, whereas biostimulants treatments increased the yield by 38% on average compared to the control. The SPAD index was increased due to successive harvesting and biostimulant application. While biostimulant application resulted in a 24% decrease in nitrates, it also caused a considerable increase in mineral content in wild rocket leaves. Both biostimulant application and successive harvesting showed promising results, and they could be suggested in leafy vegetable cultivation due to the boosted yield and quality.