The production of green bean under stress is considered a real challenge facing the cultivation of this very important crop, which lead to decrease the productivity. The current study represents production of green bean under sandy soils (more than 90% sand), which suffers from the stress of nutrient deficiency. Some selected biostimulators were investigated in ameliorating this stress including chitosan, yeast extract, amino acids, and humic acids. In two successive seasons (2021 and 2022), a field experiment was carried out under sandy alkaline soil. In this section, it would be nice to answer the main questions, which one likes to ask on it: what is the main role of applied biostimulants to promote the vegetative growth and production of green bean under soil nutrient deficiency? Which biostimulant was the best in enhancing the productivity of green bean under such stress? Can applied biostimulants reduce the content of green bean pods from nitrate and fiber?
It is well known that any stress can cause a problem in the growth and productivity of the green bean like water deficit (Galvão et al. 2019). Many biostimulants have the ability to support green bean production under such stress through producing phytohormones, which may improve root growth induction, the contribution of nutrients, and regulate antioxidant systems (Galvão et al. 2019). In the current study all studied biostimulants improved the growth and productivity of green bean compared to the control, where the priority was noticed for the chitosan. Chitosan has a distinguished non-toxic, biodegradable, and biocompatible compound that promotes physiological and biochemical attributes of the stressful plants (Balusamy et al. 2022). The increasing yield of green bean was also confirmed by Palacio-Márquez et al. (2021), who reported that using chitosan has positive effects on photosynthetic pigments, vegetative growth, and the yield under stress.
Which biostimulant was the best in enhancing the productivity of green bean under such stress? According the current study, chitosan was the best biostimulant in promoting the productivity of green bean under soil nutrient deficiency. The reason may back to the used concertation was effective besides the several advantages of chitosan under such stress to support cultivated bean plants. Chitosan is considered an excellent plant growth promoter and green pesticide due to its non-pollution, biodegradation, and non-toxic characteristics (Ramzan and Younis 2022). More reasons may include the ability of chitosan to alleviate plant oxidative stress to promote green bean yield, and the mode of action of chitosan on stressful plants and its defense system mainly depends on the method of application and applied dose (Ji et al. 2022). The obtained results were in agreement with results of Agüero-Esparza et al. (2022). The used biostimulants have the ability to support stressful plants through their role as bioactive components and phytohormones (Rady et al. 2019). Many studies reported about the crucial role of biostimulants in enhancing stressful plants under different stress such as drought (Ramzan and Younis 2022), water deficit (Galvão et al. 2019; Hernández-Figueroa et al. 2022), salinity (Rady et al. 2018), etc.
Can applied biostimulants reduce the content of fresh green bean pods from nitrate and fiber? It is well-known that the accumulation of nitrate in the edible vegetables or fruits is a serious global issue, which threaten the human health (Haftbaradaran et al. 2018). The main factors that control the accumulation of nitrate in vegetable tissue may include the soil characters, water, and organic fertilizers (Ortega-Blu et al. 2020). So, an increase concern on the accumulation of nitrate in vegetables due to excessive chemical fertilizers and unreasonable farming practices. The converting nitrate after intake by human into nitrite casing diseases of gastric carcinoma or metahemoglobinemia (Luo et al. 2022). The applied biostimulants reduced the accumulation of nitrate in green bean pods compared to control with higher reducing rate in nitrate for chitosan. It is found that applied biostimulants did not modulate nitrate accumulation in lettuce (Ottaiano et al. 2021). Concerning the fiber content, it is preferable to decrease this content when the pods will be consumed freshly. In our study, all studied biostimulants decreased the fiber content in bean pods with higher rate to chitosan. This result is a harmony with results of El Sheikha et al. (2022), who confirmed that applied biostimulants (i.e., yeast extract, humic acid and moringa) improved the nutritional value including protein and carbohydrates. This result also could be achieved using the synthetic biostimulants (Szparaga et al. 2019). Concerning the content of dietary fiber in fresh bean seeds, still needs more explanations because the effect of biostimulants on plants is not only a consequence of direct regulation of metabolism, but also of their multi-faceted actions (Bhupenchandra et al. 2022; Fig. 3). This role of biostimulants in mitigating the effects of stressful conditions on crop productivity for sustainable agriculture (Kaushal et al. 2023).
It could be concluded that natural biostimulants can offer novel possibilities in agriculture through improving crop productivity, although their mechanism still needs more studies (Szparaga et al. 2019). Different approaches can be handled to focus on the mode of action of biostimulants including the physiological, anatomical, biochemical and molecular tools. Plant antioxidants system and hormones that resulted from applying biostimulants may improve metabolic processes in plants without modifying their natural pathways (Posmyk and Szafranska 2016). The role of biostimulants under reduced nutrient supply by enhancing quality of ornamental plants was confirmed by Loconsole et al. (2023). The window still opens for more studies on the natural and synthetic biostimulants especially under different stresses as reported by several recent studies (e.g., Rai et al. 2021; Bhupenchandra et al. 2022; Loconsole et al. 2023).