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Faculty of Agriculture, University of Banja Luka , Banja Luka , Bosnia and Herzegovina
There has been a plethora of research undertaken to identify functional amendments to be used in plant production to improve plant growth, productivity, and quality, as well as to help plants overcome different types of environmental stress. In organic agriculture, the use of chemical fertilizers and pesticides is limited, so there is a need for different plant amendments suitable for such production. An environmentally friendly innovation is the use of natural plant biostimulants that are a sustainable solution to overcome this serious problem. Biostimulant can be any substance or mixture of substances of natural origin or microorganisms that improve the condition of the crop without causing harmful effects. These substances can be applied to leaves, seeds or roots with the intention to stimulate natural plant defence processes, but can also increase nutrient use efficiency and tolerance to abiotic stress. In the last few years, at the Faculty of Agriculture, University of Banja Luka has been conducted a lot of research on the application of various biostimulants in the production of ornamental plants. The evaluated biostimulants have had positive effects on vegetative growth, nutrient acquisition, antioxidative capacity, stress tolerance, and flower quality. In general, the research presented here implies possible benefit of biostimulant application in horticultural production, especially in stressful growth conditions such as reduced fertilization or other abiotic stress incidence.
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