Sustaining Red Cabbage in Saline Conditions: The Power of Biostimulants in Early Growth Stages

DOI

10.2991/978-94-6239-666-1_44How to use a DOI?

Keywords

Stress Mitigation; Brassica oleracea L. var. Capitata f. rubra; NaCl damage; salt tolerans

Abstract

This study investigates the effects of various biostimulants on growth, physiological performance and biochemical traits of red cabbage (Brassica oleracea var. Capitata f. rubra) subjected to 50 mM NaCl-induced salt stress. Plants were cultivated in a 1:1 soil-to-peat mixture and treated with different biostimulants—including amino acids, plant growth-promoting rhizobacteria (PGPR), seaweed extract, fulvic acid, chitosan, and vermicompost—applied via foliar spraying and root irrigation. Among the treatments, amino acids led to the most pronounced effect, increasing cabbage head weight by 113.3% compared to the salt-only control, followed by vermicompost with a 34.2% increase. Seaweed extract improved relative water content (RWC) by 43.1%, while vermicompost and amino acids enhanced RWC by 41.8% and 38.3%, respectively. Fulvic acid reduced membrane damage by 85.3%, and vermicompost showed the highest protective effect, decreasing membrane injury by 94.2%. Biochemical analyses revealed a 73.6% increase in total phenolic content with amino acid treatment, while fulvic acid and PGPR notably enhanced antioxidant activity. These findings highlight the potential of biostimulants to mitigate the adverse effects of salinity, improving both stress tolerance and crop performance. Among the tested treatments, amino acids, vermicompost, and fulvic acid emerged as the most effective biostimulants for alleviating the impacts of 50 mM NaCl stress, offering promising strategies for sustainable crop production in salt-affected environments.

Copyright

© 2026 The Author(s)

Open Access

Open Access This chapter is licensed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/), which permits any noncommercial use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license and indicate if changes were made.

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TY  - CONF
AU  - Zehra Mingil
AU  - Hayriye Yildiz Dasgan
PY  - 2026
DA  - 2026/05/07
TI  - Sustaining Red Cabbage in Saline Conditions: The Power of Biostimulants in Early Growth Stages
BT  - Proceedings of the 5th International Conference on Research of Agricultural and Food Technologies (I-CRAFT 2025)
PB  - Atlantis Press
SP  - 471
EP  - 486
SN  - 3005-155X
UR  - https://doi.org/10.2991/978-94-6239-666-1_44
DO  - 10.2991/978-94-6239-666-1_44
ID  - Mingil2026
ER  -