Ecosystems and Biomes R&D

The main goal of our research group is to understand the mechanistic basis of host–endophyte relationship production of endophyte-derived bioactive compounds. We also study the biology of medicinal plants affected by various abiotic stresses and evaluate optimal doses of organo-mineral fertilizers on plant growth and phytochemical compounds of medicinal plants.
Research objectives:
- to investigate the diversity of endophytic bacterial communities associated with medicinal plants
- to determine and characterize the endophyte derived bioactive compounds
- to evaluate the effect of organo-mineral fertilizers (compost, biochar, minerals, and their combination) on the growth properties and phytochemical compounds of medicinal plants.

Commercial inoculants are often used to inoculate field-grown soybean in Europe. However, nodulation efficiencies in these areas are often low. To enhance biological nitrogen (N) fixation and increase domestic legume production, indigenous strains that are adapted to local conditions could be used to develop more effective inoculants. Our results demonstrate that inoculation of locally adapted soybean cultivars with the indigenous isolates improves nodulation and yield attributes. Thus, to attain optimal symbiotic performance, the strains need to be matched with specific cultivars.

Numerous studies reported the positive effect of soil amendment with biochar on plant development. However, little is known about biochar and its interrelation with nitrogen (N) and phosphorous (P) additions and their impact on plant growth. In recent publication our results show that the interactions between nitrogen, phosphorus, and biochar affect soybean growth by improving the symbiotic performance of B. japonicum and the growth and nutrition of soybean. We observed strong positive correlations between plant shoot biomass, root biomass, and N and P uptake. These data indicated that the combined use of biochar and low N, P application can be an effective approach in improving soybean growth with minimum nutrient input.