Effect of chabazitic-zeolites and effective microorganisms on growth and chemical composition of Aloe barbadensis Miller and Aloe arborescens Miller

Domenico Prisa

CREA Research Centre for Vegetable and Ornamental Crops, Council for Agricultural Research and Economics, Via dei Fiori 8, 51012 Pescia, PT, Italy.

Author's Email -: ✉ domenico.prisa@crea.gov.it

Accepted February 28, 2019

With the aim of improving the growth of plants of Aloe barbadensis and A. arborescens and improve the content of sugars and minerals, several experiments were conducted replacing chabazitic-zeolites with normal inorganic substrates and adding the effective microorganisms (EM) to assess whether they affected plant development. The experiment on both Aloe species involved three treatments: 1) soil; 2) soil with addition of chabazitic-zeolites; and 3) soil with addition of chabazitic-zeolites and treated with EM. The results showed that the use of zeolites and EM microorganisms increased the quality characteristics of Aloe plants under cultivation; specifically plant growth, root development and production of metabolites useful for nutraceutics.

Key words: plant quality, ornamental, symbiontic bacteria, alternative substrates, metabolites.

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