Effects of plant strengthening agents on horticultural crops

The application of plant strengthening agents has become one of the most important methods in organic vegetable production. However, their effects and their efficacy are discussed controversially. We researched effects on growth and physiology of horticultural plants of the organic certified and commercially available plant-strengthening agent "KE-plantasalva", which is produced from natural herbs, sugar beet molasses, sea salt and alpine spring water and has undergone lactic fermentation processes. Two different compositions (normal versus reduced sea-salt content) were applied at seven different concentrations each. Three crop-species with different sensitivity to sodium chloride were selected: red radish, soybean and spiderwort. Results show only few significant differences and almost no tendencies of dose-effects-relations. Most of the compositions and concentrations were in the range of the control group, some variants showed even significantly worse results. In many cases the "best" results were achieved with the simple application of water.